Saving Me
by shadrougeforever
Summary: Rouge tries to help Shadow let go of his past with his relationship with the previous guns girl. Suddenly, chaos strikes when new enemies appear and plays a sick and twisted game to tear the Chaotix team apart while Shadow has to deal with the most heart wrenching challenge of all. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

**THE ARGUMENT**

The sky was pitch black on that night in Tech City. There was no one walking the lonely streets except a very angered white bat girl. She was wearing a low-cut blue top, a pink mini skirt, and fuzzy pink boots. Her head was lowered down onto the wet sidewalk she was walking and kicking an empty soda can on. Her hands had balled up into fists as she kept remaindering herself about what had happened earlier at the Chaotix. "Stupid know it all Shadow", she murmured in an angry tone. "He doesn't show any respect towards anyone! Not even his own partner! What's his deal anyway?" When she kicked the can again, it stopped in front of a shadowy figure who stood in her path.

The bat stopped in her tracks and stared at the figure standing in front of her. The streets were deserted and she had to admit to herself that she was nervous about a random person also roaming the streets at this time of night and just blocking her way. She flinched when the mysterious man suddenly spoke.

"I tried being nice…" He spoke in a cold and deep voice.

The bat arched an eyebrow towards him as she was still confused about who the man was and what he was talking about. Soon her heart skipped a beat when the man stepped into the light of a street light. She laid her eyes upon a black male hedgehog with red quills wearing a black trench coat with a white and red armband pinned to the arm of his coat reading the word 'captain' on it. He also wore a red shirt, black pants, and red, yellow, and white jet shoes.

"…But you're just too fucking nosy."

She crossed her arms and turned her head away from him. "Well damn Shadow, I'm sorry to be such a freakin' bother to you! I'm only trying to help you as your partner but apparently you're too damn stubborn and won't talk to me about what's bothering you! You don't have to be a jerk and take your anger out on your teammates!"

The hedgehog clenched his fists and angrily fixed his eyes on her. "What I'm going through doesn't concern you, Rouge!"

She glared at him and began to walk past him. "You see? You don't respect anyone who wants to help you! All you do is yell at them and hurt their feelings!"

He faced the bat who had her back turned to him, "You don't know what I'm dealing with here!"

"Oh? Trust me…I know." She spun around to turn to the hedgehog. "It's all about you and your 99 problems with your dead girlfriend!"

"What did you say!" He shouted full of anger.

"…You heard what I said. What are you? Fucking death?"

Speechless, he watched as she turned away from him again and walked inside of an abandoned warehouse.

Once Rouge walked inside, she slammed the door shut and walked throughout the halfway destroyed building to find a shortcut so she could avoid Shadow. However, that plan didn't work when he had jumped from the ceiling and landed in front of her with an angered expression. She sighed in annoyance, "Get out of my way, Shadow", she growled under her breath.

"What do you have against Faye? You never knew her! You have no idea how she was like!"

"I don't have anything against her! I'm just sick of you moping around and throwing tantrums because you lost your girlfriend! Well guess what? I bet everyone else misses her too! It's not just you! I just wish you get over it already!"

"It's not easy to forget about someone such as her who was important to me! And it…it wasn't fair that her life was taken and not mine! She didn't deserve to die!"

"…And I didn't deserve to lose my aunt, uncle, and my cousin! I know it hurts but you learn to leave the past behind and start over."

He shook his head slowly, "…It's not that simple."

Rouge sighed heavily, "Well she must have been the best damn woman in the world to put up with your emo shit! I guess everyone who meets you would have to have her personality to get used to your selfish ass!"

Stunned by her words, he could not reply back to her verbally but physically. All he had done was raise his fist and punched her hard in the face.

The hit was so hard, she almost fell back onto the dusty wooden floor.

He saw her spit out some blood from her mouth and hold her burning red cheek afterwards. "You better watch your mouth, bat", he growled under his breath.

"That's right. I forgot your sensitive to the word 'selfish.' Sorry hedgehog, did I strike a nerve from what the previous gunsgirl said to you?"

"Shut up!" He began to come towards her with another punch but she quickly took her wrists and blocked his punch.

While at it, she used her boots and kicked him away from her making his back meet the wall.

He saw her come towards him with a flying kick. He quickly dodged her kick and moved to the side making her kick a deep hole in the already damaged wall.

She tried to focus on Shadow's quick motions but he was too fast and she was already filled with so much rage, she couldn't actually concentrate. She used her wings and flew towards him with more powerful kicks. She kicked and kicked until she actually kicked him in the side of his stomach and pounded her fist into his back knocking him down onto the floor.

When he saw her lift her foot up at him while he was down, he grabbed her ankle and made her fall down onto the floor as well. He quickly got on top of her with his clenched fist and attempted to send another punch to her face, but she had moved her head making him punch through the weak floorboard instead.

She clenched her fist and punched him in the face knocking him off of her body. She spotted a rusty metal pipe laying beside her on the floor. She picked it up and stood up from the floor ready to use the pipe to hit him with it.

Shadow quickly stood from the floor and saw her beginning to swing the pipe at him. While she swung the pipe at him, he had caught the end of it, snatched it out of her grip, and threw it across the room. He came towards her and grabbed her by her neck with his hand and forced her body against the crumbling wall.

She tried her best to get out of his grip but he was far too strong and she wondered why she even tried to put up a fight with him when she knew well that he could easily kill her. As she thought of that, she began to wonder why he didn't kill her and thought he was toying with her the entire time they had been fighting. She refused to give up and let him beat her especially when he was basically not giving his all. She continued to struggle out of his grip by clawing her nails into his wrist and kicking him. Her eyes widened when she felt his free hand grab her leg in order for her to stop trying to kick him away from her body. As she continued to struggle, she didn't realize that his grip was easing up on her until she saw his eyes gazing into hers and his head was leaning closer to hers. The next thing she knew, their lips had met and they were both locked into a passionate kiss.

As he kissed her, he completely released his hand from her neck and placed both of his hands around her waist and hoisted her up the wall.

While she kissed him, she felt her underwear slipping off from under her pink mini skirt. She was completely lost. What they were doing wasn't making any sense. At first they were fighting to the death it seemed and now they were kissing each other. She didn't think too much on it though because she was actually enjoying the pleasure he was giving her.

He began to kiss down her neck and down to her collarbone while he began to undo his pants.

She bit her lip as he continued to kiss her down to her breasts. She moaned slightly when she felt his tongue licking her nipples through her blue top. She was pushed to say his name but she tried her hardest to not give in so easily. However her moans had gotten louder when she felt his fingers stroke her under her skirt. She gasped and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He looked at the pleasured expression on her face and leaned in to kiss her again with his tongue exploring her mouth.

While they were both deep into their kiss, a gasp escaped Rouge as she felt something hard being penetrated deep inside of her. She gasped and groaned from his member being shoved inside of her.

While they were both standing there, the floorboards were getting weaker and weaker and it seemed that it would collapse any moment but they both didn't notice it.

She felt him soon thrusting himself in and out of her slowly. At that moment, everything that was in her mind was gone. All she could think about was the wonderful feeling he was giving her. "Oh my God…" she murmured in a soft voice.

He penetrated her even deeper and went a little faster. He could tell she was enjoying this from her moaning and her nails running down his back.

She didn't know how much longer she could go on without saying his name. With both of her legs wrapped around his body, it made it all feel even better. She bit her lip so she wouldn't slip up and say his name. As he went faster and faster, she couldn't hold it in any longer. Just as she was about to call out to him, he had suddenly kissed her once again.

Before they could do anything else, they both suddenly fell through the weak floor and landed on the basement floor.

**A/N: First off...OMFG! I'M BACK! HOLY CRAP! I'M BACK! :DDDD I know I haz some explaning to do but it all came down to one simple answer. I was simply lazy. Yes even shadouge pervs get inactive for a long period of time. It wasn't just on here though. I've been inactive on my DeviantART account too. I just checked back on my profile and I have like 3,000 messages to answer. O.o Not looking forward to that. But anyway, yes I have returned and back to writing fanfictions again. I swear I'll try my damn hardest to get back in the swing of things. I already have a lot of catching up to do. ^^; But anyway, the next chapter will be up soon. I promise! I miss all of you guys and it's good to be back again! ^_^**

**...Preview for next chapter:**

**Shadow: Oh crap! We didn't...**

**Rouge: You are such a pervert! You raped me!**

**Shadow: It's not rape when your willing, jackass!**

**Vector: Shadow is dead to me for being late!**

**Shadow: Stupid, bat! Because of you, Vector is going to kill me! And he'll deduct from my check!**

**Rouge: omfg what a baby! .**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

**EXPLANATION**

The next morning, Rouge had awoken in aches and pains throughout her body. She sat up from the floor and the first thing she laid her eyes on was the cracked walls and wooden boards laying on the hard paved basement floor where the sun was brightly shinning upon. She placed her hand on her head because of the terrible headache she had woken up to. She slightly groaned from the headache, "God my head…" When she felt a slight chill on her body, she realized right then and there she was sitting naked in the middle of the abandoned basement. Her ears shot up in panic as she immediately tried to remember why she was there and why she was laying in the middle of the floor covered in bruises and naked. "Wha? What's going on? Why am I…" Her entire body froze when she heard a groaning noise right next to her. She slowly turned her head to only find a black hedgehog laying next to her on the floor completely naked and covered in bruises as well.

The hedgehog opened his eyes and slowly took his body away from the floor. "What a night. I keep thinking I had sex with…" His words trailed off as he slowly spun around to face a blushing and naked white bat girl sitting beside him. "...Oh fuck…we didn't…"

In a response, Rouge screamed at the top of her lungs in horror.

Shadow quickly placed his hand over her mouth to silence her. "Shut up! Someone may hear us!" He saw her slap his hand away from her and crawled away from him.

"Get away from me, you sick pervert! You…you raped me!"

The hedgehog arched an eyebrow towards her, "Raped you? Yeah right. It's not rape if it's willing…and last night you seemed pretty willing."

The blush on her face deepened from his response. "It wasn't fair! You tricked me into having sex with you!"

"Oh please! I wouldn't fuck you if you were the last woman on Mobius!"

"Oh yeah?" She began to search for her clothes that were scattered all over the floor. "I guess your pants just magically fell down while you were kissing me!"

Shadow shook his head and began to look for his clothes as well. "And I guess you just magically had your legs open!"

The bat sighed heavily in annoyance and started putting her ripped blue top on.

He found his pants and began to put them on until he suddenly remembered something. "Shit! What day is it?"

She rolled her eyes while she started putting on her pink miniskirt. "Wednesday duh." She then froze her actions and gasped while she slowly went into panic. "…Oh my God! Shadow, what time is it?"

He searched through his black trench coat to look for his cell phone. When he found it and looked at the time, he swore under his breath. "Oh fuck! The place was supposed to be open five minutes ago!"

"Okay so we have an half an hour to get ready for work. What's the problem?" She asked while she tried to fix her hair which was in a total wreck.

"I was supposed to open this morning!" He found his shirt and quickly put it on, "Vector's gonna kick my ass!"

After when Rouge had got done finding all of her clothes and putting them on, she just watched Shadow pace around the destroyed basement in panic. "Just calm down. Maybe he'll be in a good mood and…"

"I highly doubt that especially when I'm going to show up as late as I am." He put on his trench coat and placed his hands on his head in frustration. "There's no way we can go straight to work looking like this." He stood next to Rouge and grabbed her wrist, "Come on. I'll Chaos Control us to my house so we can get cleaned up."

She snatched her wrist out of his grip and gave him an annoyed look. "Your house? Why not my house? I need to still change into my uniform."

"Then we'll go to your house first to pick up your clothes. I need to go back to my place to smoke."

She arched an eyebrow towards him. "To smoke? You can smoke anytime!"

He grabbed her wrist again and formed a sly smile. "You wish I was talking about a cigarette."

It took her awhile to get what he was referring to until it became obvious that he was talking about weed. "…I knew you were fucking crazy."

He turned his head away from her and eased his hand away from her wrist and onto her hand. "Chaos Control!" Suddenly the two had disappeared into thin air by a flash of green light.

Meanwhile at the Chaotix Detective Agency, Espio and Tonya were standing outside of the building waiting for the door to be unlocked.

The purple cat girl who was standing beside the purple male chameleon arched an eyebrow in confusion. "Something's wrong. This isn't like Shadow to be late opening up the Chaotix."

The chameleon shrugged his shoulders as he had his back leaned against the door. "Maybe he just overslept for a change."

"Well maybe. I guess he wasn't the most punctual guy in the world."

The two then spotted a green male crocodile with a yellow and black kid bee flying next to him approaching them.

The crocodile confronted them in confusion. "Espio? Tonya? Why are you two standing outside?"

Espio took his back from against the door and began to explain to him what was going on. "Shadow isn't here yet so the door is still locked."

The crocodile gritted his teeth in uprising anger. "What! He's late!"

"Good thing Vector didn't forget his keys!" Charmy took out a set of keys and flew towards the door with it to unlock it.

Tonya looked around and had noticed that Rouge hadn't shown up either. "Hey you know what? Rouge isn't here either."

"That's just fucking fantastic! So like the captain and the new gunsgirl to be late!" Vector clenched his fists in irritation. "Shadow and Rouge are officially both dead to me when I find out where they are!"

Espio on the other hand was worried about them. He was thinking maybe something had happened to them and they couldn't get in touch with them. 'I just hope they're both okay…'

**A/N:**

**Vector: Your ass is so in trouble!**

**Rouge: Okay so I was wrong about him being so calm about this.**

**Shadow: This is all your fault! Stupid girl!**

**Rouge: Your such a jerk!**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

**UPCOMING CONSEQUENCES**

After when Rouge had finished taking a shower in the downstairs bathroom at Shadow's house, she walked upstairs and made her way into Shadow's bedroom while wearing nothing but a small white towel that was wrapped around her body. As she walked closer towards his room, she could hear him coughing really badly. When she stepped inside of the room, she saw him standing in front of a small dresser with his head lowered down to an empty 2 liter soda bottle. Once he took his head away from it, she saw him blowing out smoke from his mouth. Disgusted, she tried to ignore him and walked over to her clothes that was laying on his bed.

When Shadow heard footsteps coming into the room, he spun around and saw Rouge about to take the towel off of her body. "Bout time you got out of the shower."

After knowing that his attention was directed towards her, she quickly placed the towel back on her body and turned to him in annoyance. "Oh shut up, you fucking pothead."

He crossed his arms and looked out of the bedroom window, "Can you blame me really? I mean I had sex…with you. I need that shit to get me through the rest of my life now."

The bat huffed heavily and took off her towel again while Shadow wasn't looking in her direction. "It's not like you weren't doing it before either!"

Shadow didn't turn around but his eyes had glanced over to as she was starting to put her clothes on.

"God I'm sick of your bullshit! Every fucking day you give me a headache! I can't fucking stand you! I can't believe I have to be the one to suffer just because your girlfriend is dead!" Her body was suddenly pinned down onto the bed with an angry black hedgehog on top of her.

"Listen up, princess", he growled in an angered tone. "I don't like you and you don't like me so if you don't want me to actually kill you, you'll keep your mouth shut."

She tried to lift his body away from hers but he was too strong and couldn't budge him off of her. "Shadow, I fucking swear to God! Get off of me!"

"You've been warned, bat", he growled.

Just as it seemed that she had freed her arms from Shadow's grip, he had pinned them back down onto the bed again. "Shadow!" She stopped struggling when she saw him leaning closer to her as if he was going to kiss her again. "Sha-Shadow?"

They were both startled when the communicator from Shadow's belt started beeping.

After when he heard that, it had snapped him out what he was doing and immediately took his body from her naked body.

Rouge laid there on the bed with her chest heaving and sighed in relief that the two didn't start another session after arguing.

When Shadow found and answered his communicator, he immediately heard a loud and anger Vector on the other line.

"Shadow, where the hell are you!"

After hearing his loud yelling over the device, he had to take a second to get his ears right again which was enough time for Vector to stop yelling so he could speak. "Uh Vector, hey listen something happened last night and it's kind of a long story so I'll explain it to you when I get to the Chaotix."

While he was talking to Vector, Rouge began to put on her uniform. 'Sheesh', she thought. 'I knew Vector was gonna be a little upset but…'

"Fine but have you heard from Rouge?" He asked. "She's not here either."

"Oh! Uh, Rouge too?" His eyes directed over to her so he would know what to say to Vector about her, but he only saw her shrug her shoulders as she probably couldn't come up with an excuse for him right then and there. "She uh…texted me this morning and said something about she maybe a little late but I don't know. I'll see if I can find her though."

"…When will you be here?"

"Give me five minutes."

"All right I'll be waiting."

After when she saw Shadow shut off the communicator, she bit her lip knowing that they both will get severe consequences when they get to work.

"Vector seemed pretty upset…maybe I should take another hit..."

The bat clenched her fists in annoyance, "Shadow, we need to get down there fast! We're already in enough trouble and…" Her words trailed off when she saw his hand reach out to her and lifted her chin so he could look at the side of her neck. "Wha-what the hell are you doing!" She asked as she slapped his hand away.

He chuckled a bit and pointed to an unusual mark on her neck. "Nothing just admiring my masterpiece."

"…What?" She saw him lead her towards the mirror standing on the small dresser. When she examined what was on her neck, her eyes widened in horror. She spun around and started to pound her fists onto Shadow's chest. "You son of a bitch! You made a hickey on my neck!"

He grabbed her by her wrists so she could stop hitting him and laugh at how frustrated she was.

She jerked her wrists out of his grip. "This isn't fucking funny, hedgehog! You did this! Now fix it!"

"All right, all right. Calm down, princess. I think I have something that can cover it up."

She saw him look in a jewelry box and take out a black choker collar. She rose an eyebrow as he began to put it around her neck. "…Really? You couldn't think of anything better?"

"It's either this or you could go going around saying that you and Knuckles hit it off."

"…That's not funny", she spoke in a low tone with a blush on her face.

The black hedgehog shrugged his shoulders, "What? I thought you liked him?"

She looked into the mirror and stared at the black collar that was around her neck. "…I feel so dirty with this thing on."

"Hey it's better than nothing isn't it?" He took her by her wrist, "Now come on. We have to go now."

She sighed heavily while trying to think of a good excuse to tell Vector why she was late coming into work. "This day sucks already…"

The hedgehog shook his head and sighed, "Chaos Control!"

**A/N:**

**Rouge: This is all your fault!**

**Shadow: My fault? How is this my fault!**

**Rouge: It's always your fault that's why!**

**Tonya: Hey guys, someone's broke into the science museum.**

**Espio: What really went on last night, Shad?**

**Shadow:...**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

**THE HATE**

At the Chaotix, Vector was sitting on the front desk with his arms crossed looking impatient as he awaited Shadow's arrival. "I'm gonna kill him", he murmured under his breath multiple times.

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Tonya's head while she was sitting in the chair that was at the front desk. "Maybe there was a good excuse why he's showing up so late."

"Yeah? It better be a good excuse for his sake."

Charmy gave Espio a worried look, "I hope nothing happened to him."

Espio looked down at the watch on his wrist, "He should be here any minute now."

And in only a matter of seconds, a flash of green light had appeared in the center of the lobby. Afterwards, everyone's eyes were fixed upon a female white bat and a black and red male hedgehog.

Espio sighed in relief as he was happy to see that Shadow was indeed okay. "There he is."

"And Rouge is here too!" Charmy exclaimed.

Vector laid his eyes upon the two after they had both got clocked in. "Shadow! Rouge! Front in center!"

The two heard his voice carry throughout the room and in an angered tone at that.

The crocodile saw them both approach him with uneasy expressions. "So do you two wanna explain to me why you showed up 20 minutes late? And why are you both covered in scratches and bruises?"

They both turned to each other and looked back at their boss. "I got mugged!" They turned to each other and giving one another glares. They looked away from each other and back at Vector while screaming the same excuse again. "I got ran over by a truck!" They looked to each other again in frustration.

"Do you fucking mind?" Shadow growled in a low tone.

"Stop using my excuse!" She growled back at him.

Vector placed his hand on head and just knew Shadow and Rouge would try to come up with a lie to try to cover up the real excuse why they were both late. He sighed and began to walk into his office towards the back, "You two need to come into my office. Now!"

When the two saw him step into his office, they turned to each other in annoyance.

"I hate you so much…" The bat growled.

The hedgehog leaned over to her and growled in her ear, "I bet that's not what you said last night."

"Shut up!" With a deep red blush on her face, she pushed him away from her and stomped her way into Vector's office with Shadow slowly following behind her.

As Espio saw the two make their way into Vector's office, he placed a finger to his chin in curiosity over Shadow and Rouge's odd behavior.

Inside of Vector's office, Vector gave Shadow and Rouge an unbelievable look while he sat at his desk watching the two trying their hardest to come up with their excuse of why they were late. "So…let me get this straight. Last night, you two were walking each other home from work right after you two got in that heated argument."

The two nodded, "Yup."

"…And as you two were crossing the street, a truck came out of nowhere and ran you both over?"

The two once again nodded, "Yup."

"And after that, you got mugged by a dirty hobo?"

"A stabbing dirty hobo", Rouge added.

"…And then you both overslept?"

They nodded again. "Yup that's what happened."

The crocodile slammed his head down on the desk in annoyance. "Okay since you two refuse to tell me what happened and you both showed up almost a half hour late, 40 dollar deduction from both your paychecks."

The two had their mouths hung open in shock. "What! But…but…"

He took his head away from his desk and added more to their punishment. "And I want you both to clean the bathroom as part of your punishment."

Shadow couldn't believe he had to do such a humiliating task and with her, "Oh come on!"

"But Vector, this isn't fair!" Rouge added.

"Enough both of you! Now get to cleaning!"

Shadow and Rouge sighed heavily and gave each other a hateful glare before leaving his office.

Later in an old abandoned underground railway in the master control room, a brown male monkey and an orange beaver were looking at one of many monitors hanging on the wall. They were both sitting in chairs with a bowl of popcorn setting on the control panel. They both chuckled as they both watched Shadow and Rouge fighting inside of a destroyed warehouse until they both began to have sex with each other.

"Oh damn! Look at Shadow go!" The monkey chuckled.

"He gave it to her good!" The beaver said while eating some of the popcorn.

"You two are sick."

They immediately stopped the recording they were watching and directed their attention towards the entrance only to see a gray male rabbit come into the room.

"Do you actually enjoy watching them go at it?"

"Oh come on, Allan. You gotta admit that this shit is funny!" The monkey said while pointing at the screen.

"Not funny. Hilarious!" The beaver added.

The rabbit sighed and shook his head. "Krad won't be happy about you two watching that recording for your very own sick pleasures! We're supposed to be analyzing their weak and strong points!"

"But that's what we're doing…kind of?" The beaver spoke.

"Look, you guys. We need to get down to that science museum asap. Krad will not be happy if we don't have what he's been asking for."

The two stood up from their chairs and began to follow the rabbit out of the room.

"Fine but I call shotgun!" The monkey shouted.

"Wha? No fair, Damon!" The beaver said while he followed them both out of the room.

Later at the Chaotix, Shadow and Rouge were in the bathroom on their knees scrubbing the floor with brushes and sponges.

"This is so humiliating", the bat muttered under her breath. Her eyes traveled over to Shadow who wasn't saying a word and just kept scrubbing the floor. "This is all your fault…"

The hedgehog's ears twitched when he heard her words being directed to him. "…How is this my fault?"

"It's always your fault that's why!"

"Shut up, Rouge! Just shut the fuck up already! The door is slam open and if Vector hears us arguing again, he'll give us more shit to do. So just keep quiet! I'm done talking!"

She suddenly stopped scrubbing the floor with the brush she was holding and lowered her head down to the floor, "You've hated me ever since the day we met and you never were clear on your reason why."

He stopped scrubbing as well when he heard Rouge's voice soften up. "Rouge…"

"Why do you hate me so much, Shadow? And if you don't, please tell me about what happened last night between us…"

"Rouge, shut up! I don't want to…"

They were both interrupted when they heard a loud cough in the doorway of the bathroom.

Shadow slowly turned his head and saw a purple chameleon standing at the doorway with his arms crossed.

"Uh, can I talk to you for a minute, Shad?"

The hedgehog looked away from him and back at a puzzled Rouge. He sighed, got up from the floor, and walked outside with Espio to talk with him.

The two stood outside of the building near the door and began talking with each other.

"So", Shadow began. "What's going on?"

The chameleon shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. You tell me."

Shadow just gave him a cold look.

"…You and Rouge both came in late. You both are covered in scratches. You both overslept. You wanna talk to me about it? I won't tell Vector. I swear." He saw him turn his head away from him and had his arms crossed. "I overheard you and Rouge talking in the bathroom too. What did that all mean?"

The hedgehog turned back to him with a cold glare. "None of your fucking business."

"…As friends I thought we could talk about this but I can understand if you want me to piss off about it."

Afterwards, Shadow felt pretty bad for being so defensive against Espio. He sighed and placed his hand on his head. "No Espio, it's not you. I…I just had a real shitty morning."

"It's all right, Shad. I understand. I just thought talking about it would make you feel better."

"Heh, I just need a cigarette."

Suddenly, Tonya flung the doors open and ran over to the two looking as though she had some bad news. "Guys, we just got word that someone's robbing the science museum."

Shadow rose an eyebrow towards her, "…Why can't the police handle it?"

The cat shook her head, "I don't think they can."

Shadow and Espio looked at each other and figured it was more than just the typical robber and knew that they were powerful.

**A/N:**

**Vector: You guys have to save those hostages.**

**Allan: So we finally meet face to face...**

**Rouge: Who are they?**

**Espio: They don't seem familiar**

**Shadow: What nerds...**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

**THE VILLAINS**

Shadow, Espio, and Tonya rushed back inside of the building and saw Vector standing in the main lobby with Rouge and Charmy awaiting to give orders.

"What's going on?" Shadow asked.

"According to the report we got, there are three mysterious figures at the Tech City science museum attempting to steal some kind of giant laser pointer?" He explained in an unsure voice.

Espio rose an eyebrow, "A…laser…pointer?"

"Uh, yeah…but that's not all. They're also holding several people hostage. They're all armed with guns and the police can't get inside. They said there's some kind of unseen force blocking every entrance of the museum."

Shadow turned to the kid bee who was hovering beside him. "A force field perhaps?"

Charmy shrugged his shoulders, "It does sound like it."

"Anyway, I need a group of three to go rescue the hostages." He pointed at Shadow, "Shadow, you, Espio, and Rouge will go."

The white bat slowly spun around to the black hedgehog. Their eye contact remained for about five seconds until Shadow finally looked away.

"Come on. We need to hurry", Shadow spoke as he stood in the middle of the lobby.

Espio stood beside him, "Right."

Rouge stood next to him as well but never turned her head to him.

After when Shadow used Chaos Control, Vector, Tonya, and Charmy watched them leave the lobby in a flash of green light.

Meanwhile at the science museum, a brown monkey jumped up on a podium and fired bullets from his machine gun in the air to frighten the people they were holding hostage. "All right you weak fuckers! Listen up! One by one I want you all to line up and put all your money in the bag!" He was suddenly pulled down from the podium by the gray rabbit.

"Damon, what the fuck are you doing?" He whispered to him. "We're not supposed to be after their money! Only the stupid laser machine! This isn't a fucking bank!"

Demon shrugged his shoulders and formed an evil smirk, "Yeah I know but it's so much fun!"

An orange beaver approached the two with an excited expression. "The laser is heading towards the base as we speak. This is so fucking cool! I feel like a real badass!"

The rabbit rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, "Oh please…"

The monkey placed his arm on the beaver's shoulder, "Razi, real badass' keep their composure."

The beaver nodded his head, "Your right. I must look like a professional badass."

"Oh what the fuck you two! We got what we came for! Let's get out of here before…"

Suddenly they all saw a flash of green light appear in front of them which made them stop in their tracks.

"What the hell?" The rabbit murmured as he laid his eyes upon a purple chameleon, a white bat, and a black and red hedgehog. "…Oh fuck! It's those detectives!"

"Wha? Who are they?" Rouge asked as she began to study the three mysterious men.

The gray rabbit wore oval shaped glasses over his yellow eyes, a black vest over a yellow t-shirt, black pants, and yellow sneakers. The brown monkey wore an orange short sleeve coat with a black shirt under it, gray pants, and red sneakers. The orange beaver wore a gray long sleeve collar shirt, blue pants, and green sneakers.

"They don't seem very familiar to me", Espio said as he didn't recognize the three men either.

"Oh yeah that's right", the rabbit smirked evilly. "This is your first time meeting us. Allow us to introduce ourselves…I am Allan."

"I'm Damon", the monkey spoke.

"And I'm Razi", the beaver added.

"And together we are…The Villains!" They all exclaimed together.

Shadow, Espio, and Rouge just stared at them mindlessly and hopelessly confused.

Espio couldn't believe that the three men standing in front of them were any close to dangerous. "…Are you serious?"

"…The Villains?" Shadow repeated blankly.

"You're a bunch of fucking nerds!" Rouge shouted unbelievably.

"Super nerds", Espio added.

A deep blush formed over Allan's face, "We are armed and dangerous men!"

"You mean armed, dangerous, and stupid", Shadow spoke. "You stole a giant laser pointer!"

"It maybe a laser pointer to you but after when we get done with it…well…" Razi began to chuckle afterwards until Damon slapped him in the back of the head with his hand.

"Shut up will you! Don't give away our plan!"

Espio turned to Shadow, "Shadow, they may not look it but yes they are a threat at this point with these innocent people they're holding hostage."

Shadow made a nod in agreement, "You're right. We need to bring them down."

Rouge glared at the three men, "Then let's take them down now."

"Yeah", Espio agreed.

The hedgehog clenched his fists and had his eyes fixed on the gray rabbit. "Then leave four eyes to me." He jumped in front of Allan before he could even attempt to avoid him.

The gray rabbit's face lit up in uprising panic at the sight of the hedgehog and began to slowly back away from him. "So…we finally meet face to face, Shadow The Hedgehog."

The black and red hedgehog rose an eyebrow towards the uneasy rabbit. "…How do you know me? I mean I'm not that famous am I?"

He made a deep chuckle, "You could say you are. You never know…certain people may admire you. Certain people who would kill to get close to you…"

"…What are you getting at?" He asked as he was sent into confusion by his words.

Sweat poured down the orange beaver's head as he was trying his hardest to avoid the kicks Rouge was sending towards him. 'Oh God why? Why did Krad give me this job?' He thought while was trying to fight the bat off, however he couldn't lay a hand on her. His eyes widened when her boot ended up meeting his lower abdomen making him fall to his knees. He was struck down to the floor by her fists that was pounded into his back.

Rouge thought fighting him was way too easy. It was like he was letting her beat him. "What's wrong? Why won't you fight back?" She wanted to know why she was beating him so badly, "…Or are you just that weak?"

The beaver gritted his teeth in anger by her insulting words. "I'll show you!" While he was on the floor, he grabbed her by her ankle and made her fall onto the floor. While she was down, he grabbed her by her arm and squeezed it tightly so he could break it. Before he could, she raised her foot and kicked him hard in the face, knocking him back down onto the floor with blood gushing from his nose.

She stood from the floor and placed her hands on her hips while forming a smirk towards the beaver who was in pain.

He held his bleeding nose in agony, "Ow! My nose! You bitch! I'll make you pay!"

She practically wanted to bust out in laughter from the sight of him rolling about in the floor holding his bloody nose. "Right", she spoke in a sarcastic tone. She was then startled by Espio's panicked voice.

"Leave her alone!" He shouted in shock.

She turned to Espio who was confronting the brown monkey who held a handgun up at the side of a little blue fox girl's head.

The girl beside him sobbed as he pressed the barrel of the gun closer to her head. "Help me! Please!" The girl sobbed loudly.

From across the room, the shouting of a blue fox woman was heard. Everyone assumed that she was her mother. "Don't shoot her! Someone! Stop him!"

Espio attempted to take a step towards him but Damon didn't allow him to.

"Stop right there, Chameleon! One more step and I'll blow her freakin' head off!"

Espio didn't know what to do. If he made one slight move, he was sure he was going to kill her. He knew he wasn't so hesitant to take her life.

Once Razi got to his feet and wiped most of the blood away from his face, his mouth hung open when he realized what Damon was up to. 'Wha? Wha the hell does Damon think he's doing?'

Shadow and Rouge froze as well while trying to think of a way to get the child away from Damon's grip. Their eyes suddenly widened in surprise when they saw who was approaching behind Damon.

The monkey formed an evil smirk, "That's right, you fools! I'm in control! So you better do what I…" He was then hit in the back of his head and knocked to the floor dropping the gun out of his hand.

Everyone gasped and fixed their eyes on a red male echidna with dreadlocks who wore a green short sleeved hoodie with a light blue shirt, blue baggy jean shorts, green cuffs around his ankles, and red and yellow shoes.

Rouge's eyes sparkled in happiness at the sight of him, "Knuckles!"

**A/N:**

**Knuckles: Long time no see eh, guys?**

**Rouge: My hero!**

**Shadow: You! What are you doing here?**

**Knuckles:...Just wanna help...**

**Shadow: This is strictly detective business!**

**Espio: Oh ho! Don't tell me someone's jealous...**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

**JEALOUSY**

Damon held his throbbing head after being punched in the back of it and looked up at the red echidna standing in front of him. "Who the fuck are you?"

The little girl Damon was threatening to kill ran back to her worried mother's arms safely.

The echidna's eyes glared down at him and saw him trying to reach for his gun. "It's Knuckles." He spotted the gun on the floor and kicked it from out of his reach, "Knuckles The Echidna."

A light blush formed on Rouge's face as she stared at him, 'He came to help us…' Her eyes widened when she saw his eyes make contact with hers.

"Hey it's been awhile huh?"

The bat formed a warm smile towards him and made a nod. "…Yeah."

"Wha? Wait a minute!" Shadow exclaimed. "How the hell did you get in here?"

The echidna pointed up at the air vents on the ceiling. "I saw a strange device on top of the roof that was making some kind of invisible force field surround the building. So I destroyed it and snuck in through the vents."

"So…", Espio began, "…Everybody can leave now?"

"…Uh…yeah."

All of the people who were being held hostage by the three mysterious men looked at one another and began to run out of the building. While everyone was leaving, Shadow confronted Knuckles in uprising anger.

"You! Who the hell do you think you are trying to play hero!" The hedgehog shouted.

Knuckles gave the hedgehog a dumbfounded look, "Me? Playing hero?"

"This is strictly detective business! Who gives you the right to waltz in here like that! Someone could've gotten killed!

"Hey Shad, I was just trying to help. No need to get snippy because I ended up saving the girl while you were twiddling your thumb."

"…What? I was waiting for the perfect opportunity to lure him away from her until you jumped out of nowhere and fucked our entire mission up!"

"…Why you ungrateful…"

Rouge stepped in between them before they ended up fighting each other instead. "Hey! Stop it, you guys! Everyone is okay and that's all that matters right?"

Shadow's furious eyes were now fixed on Rouge for interfering with their argument. "Rouge, this has nothing to do with you! Stand down!"

She leaned her body against Knuckles hoping that Shadow wouldn't strike him. "Shadow!"

"I said stand down, Rouge! That's an order!"

Knuckles pointed his finger at his face, "Hey! You can't talk to her that way!"

He slapped his hand out of his face, "I'm her supervisor! I'll do whatever I want to, Echidna!"

Espio noticed that the argument they were having was getting out of hand and decided he should step in and stop it. "Um…guys?"

"Your asking for trouble, Shadow", he growled as he cracked his fists.

Shadow chuckled deeply, "Heh, you're going to fight me? You wouldn't last five seconds in a battle with me!"

"We'll just see about that, Hedgehog!"

Before Shadow and Knuckles could lay a hand on each other, they heard Espio's voice fill the entire room.

"You guys!"

Shadow, Knuckles, and Rouge froze and turned to Espio and only Espio.

"Because of your pointless arguing, The Villains got away!"

Everyone looked around the room and they saw no one but them in the room.

"Aw crap", Rouge spoke.

Shadow's eyes flashed towards the echidna. "You see what you've done now! Because of you, they got away! This is all your fault!"

"My fault?" Knuckles repeated angrily.

"Yes! Your vault!"

While the police were making their way inside of the museum, Espio fell to his knees, placed his hand on his forehead and sighed heavily. "This is ridiculous…"

Moments later after they all talked to the police about what had happened, Shadow and Espio were standing at a distance away from the museum trying to think of a way to explain what had happened to Vector.

In frustration, Shadow placed his hand on his head, "I can't believe we let them get away…and so easily!"

Espio crossed his arms and gave Shadow an annoyed look, "Well maybe instead of arguing, you and Knuckles could've worked together and took them out easy."

He sighed heavily, "What am I supposed to tell Vector?"

"The truth what else?" He then saw Shadow staring at Knuckles and Rouge talking to each other in front of the museum. "…Shadow?" He called out to him but he didn't respond.

Knuckles eyes made contact with Rouge's. "It's been forever since we've seen either huh? Been pretty busy?"

"Yeah sorry. Work has been pretty hectic. My captain's being a major hard ass on me."

The echidna gave her a sympathetic look, "What has he been doing to you? If he's laid a hand on you, I swear to God I'll…"

A sweat drop formed on the side of her head, "Everything's fine. I promise you. You just know how cranky he gets."

He placed his hands into his pants pockets, "Yeah but still that gives him no right to…" His sentence trailed off when he realized that she was wearing a black gothic choker around her neck. "Um, Rouge? Is that a…choker around your neck?"

She saw him beginning to point at her neck. She felt around her neck with her hand and completely forgot that Shadow leant it to her to cover up the mark on her neck. "Oh! This! Uh…didn't you know? I love this kind of stuff." She tried to make a convincing smile to make it look like the choker belonged to her.

"Uh, no. I had no idea really. But I think it totally looks sexy on you."

She formed a deep red blush on her face, "…Really? Thanks!"

From the distance they were standing away from Knuckles and Rouge, Espio saw the two hugging each other. A sweat drop formed on the side of his head, "Those two need to go out already. Don't you think, Shad?" He noticed that Shadow never turned to face him and saw that he was glaring at Rouge and Knuckles and clenching his fists. "Uh, Shad?"

Finally Shadow had snapped out of his thoughts and turned to the worried chameleon. "…What?"

"…Something bugging?"

He shook his head and turned away from him, "Of course not."

Espio's eyes studied the black choker around Rouge's neck and gave Shadow a grimaced look. "You know what? That choker around Rouge's neck looks like something you would wear…"

Shadow turned to Espio and gave him an uneasy look for about five seconds and turned away from him again.

"…That choker does belong to you doesn't it!" Shadow's hand was suddenly placed around his mouth.

"Shut up, Espio! Don't scream it!"

He took his hand away from his mouth and gave Shadow a confused look. "So, why is she wearing your choker?"

"…No reason."

"Come on, Shadow! We're best friends! Don't…"

He knew Espio wouldn't give up so easily and was determined to get the truth from him. He sighed heavily, "Fine, you wanna know the truth? The reason why Rouge and I were so late this morning? Why we've been at each other's throats all day?"

Espio made a small nod as he was anxious to know what was going on between them. He saw Shadow once again place his hand over his mouth and whispered to him softly.

"…Rouge and I fucked last night."

The chameleon's eyes widened and he began to talk through his hand in excitement.

Shadow could hear him trying to talk through his hand and he knew he would start shouting once he took his hand away from his mouth. "Shut up, Espio! I swear to fucking God if you tell anyone about this, I will fucking rip your tongue out!"

Espio continued to try to talk through his hand because he was still shocked about what he had just told him.

"Calm down! Can you do that?"

He saw him nod his head and calm down a bit so he decided to release his hand from his mouth.

Espio tried to get himself together before he actually responded to him. "…So…you…banged…her?"

"…Yeah", he spoke shamefully.

"But I thought you hated her?"

"I do! It's just…we had this fight and…I…I don't know what happened! It just happened!"

Espio formed a sly smile, "Shadow, you dog you."

"…Don't get the wrong idea. I'm disgusted with myself."

"Right", he spoke sarcastically. "And I can see why you hate Knuckles so much."

The hedgehog rose an eyebrow towards him, "Wha?"

"Rouge and Knuckles obviously has a crush on each other and you…well…you're just jealous."

Shadow crossed his arms angrily, "Think what you want but I am not jealous of that stupid girl! She can fuck him for all I care! It doesn't matter to me!"

Espio's sly look never left his face, "Oh I see. Touchy…"

"…I fucking hate her!"

"…Says the guy who fucked her."

A deep blush formed on his face, "Espio!"

"You know what I think, Shad? Faye was the previous gunsgirl and since Rouge is the new gunsgirl, she reminds you of her because you have to admit it. She and Faye are a lot alike."

"…Espio…don't…"

"Face it, Shadow! Rouge is your new Faye isn't she? That's why you fucked her! You were thinking about Faye!"

He placed both of his hands on his head in frustration, "Shut up! Your wrong!"

"It's not fair to her, Shadow! You need to sit down with Rouge and talk to her about Faye! If you don't, then…someone's going to get the wrong idea and get hurt…"

Before Shadow could say anymore, he heard Rouge calling his name from behind.

"Shadow?"

Startled, he slowly spun around and faced her with an uneasy look. He had hoped that she didn't overhear them both talking.

"So, are we gonna head back to the Chaotix now? It's getting late…"

Judging by her expression towards him, she still seemed upset about the argument they had earlier. It honestly made him feel bad about the entire thing. He turned to Espio and saw him glaring at him with his arms crossed.

The chameleon made a nod to him agreeing with Rouge that it was time to go back.

He looked down to the ground and sighed sadly, "Yeah…let's get back."

**A/N:**

**Vector: These new characters sound very strange.**

**Charmy: Maybe they're working for someone...**

**Rouge: ...What are you doing here?**

**Shadow: Think you should finally know the truth about Faye...**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

**THE WAY THINGS WERE**

Later in the control room of the abandoned underground railway, Razi and Damon were both sitting in chairs in front of the many monitors that were hanging from the wall listening to Allan yell at Damon.

The gray rabbit paced around the room in annoyance towards the brown monkey. "Are you fucking crazy, Damon? You acted so recklessly! What if they called for backup or something? Then what? We would've gotten screwed in the ass and thrown in jail!"

The monkey gave Allan an annoyed look, "Come on, Ally. Don't get your big boy panties in a bunch. We got what we came for. I was just thinking…well you know? Why not have some more fun while we were in control?"

The rabbit clenched his fists in frustration, "Your not listening to me! We were up against Shadow The Hedgehog back there! He could've easily slit our throats and be done with us! We were fortunate that stupid echidna showed up and distracted everyone so we made it out of there with ease."

The beaver turned to monkey and agreed. "Allan's right. We should've kept more of a low profile."

He sent a hateful glare to the beaver, "Oh shut up, Razi! You had better did your part and placed that tracking device on that bat girl like you were told!"

"Hey! She put up a fight but the job was done! I did my part! I didn't fuck up like you tried to do, Damon!"

He held his fist up at the beaver, "You better shut your mouth before I rearrange your teeth!"

Before Allan could say anything to break them up, a deep and chilling voice had filled the room.

"That's not a way to behave in my presence don't you think?"

Everyone froze and turned to the doorway to turn to a gray hedgehog with green quills on his head and almost glowing red eyes. He was wearing a black coat, a white collar shirt, a red tie, black jeans, and black and yellow shoes.

Allan's mouth hung open at the sight of him, "Uh! Krad! What are you doing back so soon?" He watched him make his way to a brown chair that was facing the group and sat in it. "Didn't you watch the news? After that scene you fools made, everyone in Tech City is talking about it. Which reminds me…who's the brilliant dumbass who wanted to shoot a girl for no apparent reason?" His eyes flashed over to Razi and Damon, "Why do I have a feeling it was one of you two?"

The beaver practically jumped out of his body when he saw the hedgehog look in his direction. "It wasn't me, Krad! It was all Damon! I swear!"

"It's true!" Allan added, "It's his fault we're all over the news!"

Krad rose an eyebrow towards the monkey, "Oh really?"

Damon's body shook in fear over the way Krad was looking at him.

"Looks like someone wanted to be a rebel and go against my orders…"

"Wha? No! Never!"

"Oh I think so", he growled as he held his hand out to him and slowly began to clench it.

Allan and Razi's mouth dropped open when they saw Damon holding his neck and gasping for air as if he was being strangled.

"Please…", the monkey wheezed. "…I…won't…disobey you again. Have…mercy…" He spoke weakly.

The hedgehog formed an evil smirk and unclenched his fist. He watched as he fell out of his chair and onto the floor while still holding his neck and coughing in pain.

Allan and Razi stared at Damon who was on the floor in agony until Krad had grabbed their attention.

"Well, now that's settled, let's put our plan into action shall we?"

When Shadow, Espio, and Rouge got back at the Chaotix, they were in the main lobby explaining to Vector and the others about their encounter with The Villains.

Vector placed his hand under his chin as he was taking in what everyone had told him. "The Villains huh?"

Shadow made a nod, "Yeah have you heard of them?"

The crocodile shook his head, "Nope this is my first time hearing about them. They must be a new breed of evil."

Espio chuckled a bit, "More like a new breed of dumbasses. Those guys were total nerds! They don't know a freakin' thing about fighting whatsoever. We could have literally broken them in half."

Vector rose an eyebrow towards the group, "Then why did they get away so easily?"

Everyone remained silent until Shadow spoke up.

"We were distracted…"

"…That's no excuse, Shadow. You had the opportunity to take them down. Don't hesitate to do so next time."

He looked down to the floor, not wanting to face him. "Yes, sir…"

Tonya turned to the kid bee who was flying beside her, "By the way you guys described them, they seem a little stupid to just take something like a laser pointer for no reason."

"Maybe they're working for someone?" Charmy assumed.

"You maybe right, Charms. But with so little evidence, we can't hope to get this case solved anytime soon. I say let's call it a day and get some rest for tomorrow."

Everyone agreed and decided to get ready to go home.

Shadow watched as Rouge walked out the door and head to her house. He jumped a bit when he felt Espio's hand fall on his shoulder.

"You know what to do", he spoke in a soft voice.

Shadow watched him walk out the door as well, leaving him to agree with him that it was time that Rouge had to know the truth about his old lover.

Later, Rouge was at her house sitting on a wooden swing bench out on her deck admiring the sun setting in the orange sky. She sighed sadly while she toyed with the black choker Shadow had leant her.

"You must really like that choker."

Startled, she spun around and saw a black and red male hedgehog standing across from her on the deck.

"…Shadow…" She saw him slowly approaching her. "I was just remembering that I had to give this back to you." She held it out to him and watched him take it from her hand.

"…Thanks."

"So…is there a reason why you just eased your way on my property?"

He sighed heavily as he tried to prepare himself to talk with her. "…Is there room on that bench for me?"

She made a slight nod and made room for Shadow to sit next to her.

He sat down beside her but with his head looking down onto the floor. He found it difficult to look into her eyes especially with what he was about to say to her. "Rouge", he started, "We've known each other long enough now right?"

Even though he was looking away from her, she made small nod, "…Yeah."

He sighed heavily, looked away from the floor, and looked into her eyes. "I never wanted to but I think it's time I've finally told you everything about Faye Alaskstar. The first guns girl. My old partner. My old lover."

Her eyes widened in shock. She knew how secretive and how emotional Shadow had gotten when her name slipped from anyone's mouth. Now she couldn't believe that he was actually going to tell her about the first guns girl. She didn't know how to react to the situation really. She was eager and kind of happy that he was finally opening up to her but deep down inside, she couldn't help but to think that something was wrong.

He turned away from her and stared at the clouds hovering in the calm orange sky. "Faye…she was an incredible woman. Even from the start, she was one hell of a character. Her attitude was daring, risky, confident, and compassionate. When we first met, she and I didn't quit get along. Quite frankly, back then I was the immature jerk and she was the realistic serious individual. We actually hated each other because we never agreed with each other and Vector forced us to work together."

The bat's ear's suddenly flinched as a reality check sunk into her heart. 'Wait a minute…Shadow and Faye didn't get along at first either?'

He continued, "But as we both worked along each other, we both started to learn more about each other and found out we had a lot in common. Eventually, I was pushed to ask her out. We went out on a few simple dates and everything was looking up until…I found out she was keeping a secret from me…from all of us."

Rouge blinked her eyes blankly and was practically on the edge of her seat from the suspense of his story.

"It turned out that Faye was a princess in a kingdom from another world. It was called Kingdom Alaskstar. She had claimed she had kept it a secret by preventing any of us from getting involved with the kingdom's affairs. But of course later on, it was like we had a choice. It turned out that an evil sorceress by the name of Arachnikina who was trying to take over the kingdom."

"Arachnikina?" She repeated blankly.

He turned to her and made a small nod, "Yes and our battles with her and her minions went on for months it seemed. And during those times, Faye and I had gotten closer and closer to each other. I finally had the courage to tell her that I loved her and she felt the same way. I told Espio after the war between the kingdom and Arachnikina, I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life…"

She noticed that she heard him make a long pause and saw his hands clench into fists.

"But then it happened…and so quickly…"

"…What happened, Shadow?"

"Before Faye had ran off to battle one of Arachnikina's minions, she and I got into an argument. I didn't want her to go fight. I thought it was too dangerous for her. I just wouldn't let her go. She was angry and upset with me. The last thing she said to me before she stormed off was…"

_Rain poured from the pitch black night sky while two figures were running out from a huge castle gate._

_A black and red hedgehog had caught up to a blue wolf and grabbed her by her wrist making her turn back to him._

_The two were standing there in front of the castle gate arguing with each other and drenched in rain water. All anyone could hear was their yelling and the sound of pouring rain hitting the ground._

"_How could you do this, Faye? You need to stop and think about things for a second! Saber is one of Arachnikina's strongest minions! If you make the wrong move, you're done for!"_

"_Shadow, I know what I'm doing! You need to stop being such a coward and face your enemies! If we don't make a move then they will and my people will suffer dire consequences! I must go!"_

_His grip around her wrist tightened, "No, Faye! I won't let you do it! I love you damn it! I won't lose you!"_

_The wolf girl grew furious and frustrated with their argument and thought it was completely pointless. Tears swelled in her eyes as she began to feel hurt by the words she was about to say to her lover. "How could you be so heartless? The people of this kingdom need me! I made an oath to stand by their side and to protect them from any harm that would come their way! And you're gonna stand there and tell me to not fight for my kingdom? My home?"_

_Speechless, the hedgehog stared into the wolf's teary dark blue eyes with his hand still on her wrist but easing his grip slowly. "…Faye…"_

"_All you care about is yourself! God! You're so selfish!"_

_After hearing that, it was like hearing his heart snap in two. He released his grip from her wrist and painfully watched her storm off into the night hoping to find Arachnikina's minions and put an end to their evil reign on the kingdom._

"…Those were the last words she said to me before she confronted one of her minions and she unfortunately failed."

She noticed that his voice had softened and saw him look towards the floor in sadness.

"That day I lost her…and it felt like I lost everything. I had so much to look forward to after all of that was over. I would've had a beautiful wife…I could have became a prince…I…I could've had a beautiful baby girl…"

The bat's ears flinched and her eyes widened in shock. "Sha-Shadow? She was pregnant?"

He made a small nod, "Apparently Espio was the only one Faye had told. He decided to tell me this a little before I hired you…"

"But…that happened years ago."

"I know but his excuse was he was waiting for me to get over Faye's death a little better. I was taking her death a little hard…I still am as you can see."

Rouge couldn't believe it. She had no idea that he had not only lost his wife to be but also his unborn child. Now she could understand why he was always so angry…so sad…so distant. He lost his entire family in only a blink of an eye. "Shadow, again I'm sorry for your lost but…why did you suddenly tell me all of this? What does this have to do with me?"

He slowly looked over to her and sighed heavily, "I've been hiding too many things from you and I just realized it's not fair for you to be taking the place of someone and not knowing at least a little bit of their history. I like you a lot, Rouge…and I want us to stay friends."

Her mind became hazy and filled with even more confusing. She crossed her legs and arms and fixed her eyes onto the hedgehog. "If this is true, then what happened between us last night? What was that all about?"

"…I'm not sure exactly. I guess just built up tension I guess…"

"Don't play that shit with me!"

Hearing her suddenly have an outburst at him almost made it too obvious that he had flinched his body.

"Oh like you don't know? Faye was the guns girl and now I'm the guns girl. She was a princess. You always call me a princess. You and Faye didn't get along at first and you and I had a rough start too. You started liking Faye a little too much and what? You just decided to start beating the shit out of me and then fuck me with no good reason?"

"Rouge, don't go there…"

"…Last night…you weren't thinking about me at all. It was probably one sick flashback of yours or something…"

"Rouge…"

"Oh my God! You started to pretend that I was her! You saw her image when you looked at me and you started to fuck me!"

"Rouge, stop thinking like that! It's not true!"

Tears swelled in her eyes, "Every time you see me, you see her! I'm not Rouge the Bat to you! I'm Faye! Faye Alaskstar!"

He gripped her hand and tried to calm her down, "Rouge, don't say that! None of that is true!"

She jerked her hand out of his grip and stood up from the bench with tears streaming down her face. "Don't touch me, you sick twisted bastard!"

Shadow approached her and grabbed her by her shoulders having her back against the wall, "Rouge, are you listening to yourself! Why the hell would you remind me of Faye?"

She tried to calm her own self down while she tried to speak to him. "…Tell me the truth. Do you…want me?"

His mind completely froze and was lost in her watery eyes. "…What?"

"If you could, would you…fuck me again?"

He remained hesitant with the question. I suppose she had meant if he had liked her but the way she said it made it sound completely disturbing. "Rouge, I think you're a very attractive woman and all but trust me when I'm telling you that you don't remind me anything of Faye."

"That doesn't explain what happened between us last night…" She then felt his hand touch her chin and made her look into his eyes.

"Listen to me", he spoke in a firm tone. "You are Rouge the Bat. Don't think of anything any different from that."

She stared into his eyes deeply as she was trying to read his mind and figure out what was going on between them at that moment. With her having her back against the wall and his body pressed against hers, it was difficult to read what was going to happen next. She suddenly saw his face leaning closer to hers. Tears continued to run down her cheeks as she became confused and scared. She didn't know what to expect from Shadow and that was the scary thing about the situation She slowly closed her eyes as she felt his lips brush against hers.

His hands traveled down her body gently as he kissed her.

Apart of her liked this and another part of her felt uncomfortable with it. She softly sniffed and sobbed when she noticed that he had started to grab her butt and kiss her neck. "Shadow", she whimpered. "St-stop…Stop it!"

After hearing her cry out for him to stop his actions, he immediately released himself from her body and studied her tearful face. While he saw her softly sob and trying to wipe her tears, he felt like a real monster for trying to basically force himself on her. "Rouge, I-I'm…"

"…Is that all I am to you, Shadow? Your toy?" She whimpered weakly.

At this point, he wanted to tell her how sorry he was for forcing himself on her but he knew that wouldn't help. He honestly didn't know what to do. At that moment, he hated himself for what he had been doing to her and for her sake, he needed to get away from her as far as possible.

She watched as suddenly ran off without saying anything else to her. As more tears streamed from down her face, all she could feel was sadness and hate.

**A/N:**

**zomg! An update! No wai! No wai!...Yes wai! Better enjoy this chap, guys! I dunno if I'll be continuing this fic or not but this doesn't mean I'm giving up writing for good! There will be more fics to come so sit tight! I do apologize if this chap is out of whack though. It's been almost a year or maybe it has been a year since I wrote any of this so I may have lost some of my edge in writing. But since I'm getting back into it, maybe I can get it back. lol! Anyway, keep an eye out for more updates from me! See ya laterz!**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

**ABDUCTED**

Later that night, Rouge was laying in bed trying to get some sleep for work tomorrow but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get what happened between her and Shadow off of her mind. She didn't know how to act around him for tomorrow. She didn't know what to do or what so say. She had wanted to avoid him for the rest of her life but knew that was just impossible especially when the two worked side by side almost everyday. She twisted and turned around in bed until she finally felt comfortable. When she was just about to close her eyes, she heard a loud bump downstairs. It sounded like it had came from her kitchen. She rose her head from her pillow immediately and threw back her blankets. "Wha? What was that?" She quickly got out of bed, walked out of her bedroom and creped downstairs.

When she arrived in her kitchen, it was pitch black. She could barely see anything. The only bit of light she saw was the moonlight coming through the window. She felt around the wall to find the light switch. Once she had found it and attempted to turn on the lights, the lights would not come on. 'Huh? That's weird.' She was then startled when she heard another loud bump nearby and the sound was coming directly in the kitchen. "Who's there?" She called, "Answer me!" As she stepped closer into the kitchen, she was suddenly grabbed around her neck. She used her elbow, hit them in the stomach, grabbed them by their wrist, and flung them into the table knocking the table and the things that were on it onto the floor. She was caught off guard when her arms where restrained by shackles and was knocked in the head by a blunt object. She fell to the floor with her head throbbing.

"About time!" One voice spoke.

"Yeah I thought she'd never go down!" Another said.

Rouge took her heavy eyes off of the floor and looked up at a gray male rabbit wearing glasses and a brown male monkey with a sadistic look on his face. Her weary eyes shot open in shock as she knew right then it was the two criminals that had robbed the museum. She had wondered why they had came to her house and what they had wanted.

"That was too easy", the monkey placed his foot on her back to make sure she stayed down on the floor. He turned to the orange beaver who was writing something down on a piece of paper. "Yo, Razi! You done with that note yet? We ain't got all night!"

"Hey chill will ya? I'm working on it!" The beaver had snapped while he was trying to finish writing on the paper.

The bat let out a painful groan before she spoke up, "Wha-why are you here? What do want?"

The rabbit chuckled a bit as he looked down at the confused bat woman and adjusted his glasses, "We want you…guns girl."

The one question that was really on her mind was she couldn't figure out how they found her. "But why?"

"The big boss has big plans for you."

The monkey licked his lips as he stared at her down on the floor. He was admiring her beautiful body with her wearing a red and revealing lingerie dress. "Come on, Allan. Let's have some fun with her before we hand her over to Krad."

Rouge's eyes were fixed coldly on the monkey. "You put your hands on me and I swear to God I'll take a large banana and shove it up your narrow-" A piece of cloth was suddenly wrapped around her mouth preventing her from talking.

"Thank you, Razi. I didn't think she would never shut up." Allan crossed his arms and gave the monkey a disgusted look. "And Damon, could you not try to piss her off anymore than she is?"

The brown monkey shrugged his shoulders, "Just trying to have a little fun, Al. Lighten the fuck up for once."

The rabbit shook his head and just ignored what he had said. He spun around to Razi while he was placing the piece of paper on the refrigerator. "Did you finish that note yet?"

The beaver made a nod towards him, "Yup."

"Good." He turned to Damon, "Okay guys, let's get her and get out before someone sees us."

Rouge laid her head on the cold floor in sadness. She had no idea what they would want her with and who this Krad was but she didn't think she would see any of her friends ever again.

**A/N:**

**Rouge: What do you want with me? **

**Krad: You will be useful to me in more ways than you could ever imagine...**

**Rouge: Stay away from me!**

**Espio: There was a struggle here...**

**Tonya: What happened to Rouge?**


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

**TAKEN**

Later, Rouge had awoken by being thrown on a cold and dirty floor with her wrists and ankles shackled down by chains. A white cloth was still over her mouth. All she could do was look around and analyze the dark and gloomy room she was in. She saw a large monitor with a lot of buttons and levers on the table in front of it. She saw more monitors around the room that were showing video footage of the inside of an abandoned underground railway. She figured this was the control room. She was startled when Razi, Allan, and Damon were walking past her body on the floor and approached a black desk chair that was facing the monitors hanging on the wall. 'What's going on?' She thought.

"Ah so you've finally arrived?"

She watched as the chair spun around and saw a gray male hedgehog with green quills around his body and his menacing glowing red eyes fixed onto hers. Her eyes widened as the man had a shocking resemblance to Shadow.

The hedgehog stood from his chair and began to approach her.

Rouge knew from sight that he wasn't the kind of guy to be messed with. He seemed quite serious and dangerous. She wanted to back away from him but she was restrained. She watched him kneel down to her, place his hand under her chin and take the cloth away from her mouth.

"I've been waiting for this moment to finally meet you, guns girl…or shall I call you Rouge?" He spoke in a sinister tone and lightly slid his hand from under her chin.

"You…", she spoke in a raspy voice. "You must be Krad? Am I right?"

He said nothing and made a small nod.

"How did you find me?"

"I can answer that", Razi had spoke. "Remember back at the museum? When you were too occupied with kicking my ass, I placed a tracking device on you."

She remained silent and tried to think what moment when he exactly placed the tracking device on her.

"Yeah bat girl! Didn't know what was coming to you huh? Payback's a bitch", he spoke with an evil laugh.

Damon sighed in annoyance and slapped him in the back of his head. "Shut up!"

The beaver held the back of his head and gave Damon a glaring look. "Why don't you, Damon?"

Before the two ended up in an argument, they were startled by Krad's loud and firm voice.

"Silence!"

The two immediately stopped talking and were practically shaking after Krad yelling at them.

Rouge focused her thoughts back on the hedgehog. "Who are you exactly? And what do you want with me?"

The hedgehog formed an evil smirk, "I am so glad you asked, my dear." He stood from the floor and began walking to a large white sheet. It looked like something big hidden under the large sheet. He pulled the sheet off and it exposed the giant laser that Allan, Damon, and Razi had stolen from the museum. The tip of the laser was aimed at a metal table that was set under it. On the table was a metal black collar. It looked like a shock collar. He took the collar off of the table and walked towards Rouge with it.

Rouge then began to panic as he walked closer and closer to her. She struggled to get her hands and legs free but it was no use. She saw Allan, Damon, and Razi pick her body up and set her on her knees. "Get off of me!" Her eyes widened when she saw him approaching her with the same evil smirk still on his face.

"You're going to be playing a very important role in my plan."

"Stay away from me!" She spat. She watched as he lured the collar towards her neck.

"You will be useful to me in more ways than you could ever imagine…"

She felt her hair being tugged on from the back by Damon. She shut her eyes tightly until she felt the cold metal collar touching around her neck. "No!"

That next morning, Espio was walking Tonya to Rouge's house.

Tonya had explained to Espio that she was trying to get in touch with Rouge all morning but she had never heard anything from her.

The purple chameleon sighed heavily with his hands in his pants pockets. "Ton, don't you think you're overreacting a bit? So what if she didn't answer any of your calls? Maybe she was busy? Or maybe she just doesn't want to talk to anybody. You know how girls are right?"

With that comment, Tonya arched an eyebrow towards him. "What does that supposed to mean exactly?"

He paused for a moment and realized what he had said. "Uh, not like that, Ton! It's just girls get way too moody. You know what I mean?"

Every word he had said, she couldn't help but to get more and more annoyed with him. "No I don't know what you mean and I think you should start shutting your mouth before I shut it for you", she spoke coldly.

A sweat drop formed on the side of his head. He had hoped he hadn't completely upset her. "Uh…um…yes ma'am."

When the two arrived at Rouge's door, Tonya began knocking on the door. They waited a few moments and never heard a thing within the house. "That's weird…"

The chameleon shrugged, "Maybe she went to work early?"

The cat narrowed her eyes towards him. "Rouge? Going to work early? You gotta be kidding me." She attempted to turn the doorknob and surprisingly the door was open. Her eyes shot open. "What? The door's unlocked."

They both stepped into her kitchen and saw everything completely trashed.

Tonya let out a horrific gasp and wondered what had happened and if Rouge was okay. "Oh my God…"

Espio studied around the destroyed kitchen, "What happened?"

Tonya began to look around the entire downstairs area of her house and began to call her name hoping she would respond. "Rouge?" But there was no response. She figured she wasn't in the house at all. She walked back over to Espio in worry, "Rouge isn't here…"

Espio continued to look around the kitchen and then back at Tonya. "There was a struggle here…"

Tonya gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"By the way things were knocked over, she was ambushed…"

Tonya again made a gasp.

He kneeled down on the floor and stared at the mess on the floor. "It looks like she tried to fight them off but it was unexpected. She wasn't prepared for their attack."

"But where is she? What happened to her? Is she…" She saw Espio stand from the floor and continued to look around until a piece of paper that was placed on the refrigerator caught his eye.

He took the paper off of the refrigerator and studied it.

Tonya stood beside him to look at the note. "What does it say?"

He began to read from it, "Dear detectives, by the time you read this your precious guns girl will already be gone. We kidnapped her and took her to the abandoned underground railway in the western district of Tech City. If you want to see her again, come and get her. Sincerely, the Villains." Afterwards, he took the paper and balled it up into his fist. "Those bastards! They took her!"

She couldn't come up with a reason at all on why the Villains would want to kidnap Rouge. "Why would they want to just take her?"

"I don't know but…we gotta inform this to Vector."

Tonya made a small nod and saw Espio about to run out of the house.

"Let's go, Ton!"

"Right!" She said as she started to follow him.

**A/N:**

**Tonya: The Villains took Rouge!**

**Vector: That tears it! We're going to bring her back!**

**Espio: Rouge is your partner and you're just going to sit around and wait for her to die?**

**Shadow: What happens to her doesn't concern me...**

**Allan: Welcome to the party...**


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

**THE RESCUE MISSION**

Later at the Chaotix, Shadow was sitting at Tonya's desk going through some paperwork until Vector had approached him.

"Yo, Shad!" The green crocodile called.

The hedgehog mindlessly looked up at him, "What?"

"Where's your partner? I thought she was coming in early to help catch you up with some paperwork?"

He remained silent for a moment. He remembered what had happened yesterday between them and she seemed really upset with him. By the way she had acted, he had high doubts that she would even consider showing up for work. He shrugged and continued to look through some papers. "Yeah like she would ever help me with that", he spoke in a sarcastic tone.

Vector placed a hand on his hip and tilted his head in confusion. He then saw Espio and Tonya and running through the door in panic. The way their expressions looked, he knew something was wrong. "Espio? Tonya? What's up?" The two confronted him in exhaustion and shock. He watched as Espio gave him a piece of crumbled paper.

"Vector, we got a situation", Espio spoke in an exhausted voice.

"Rouge's been kidnapped!" Tonya shouted in panic.

Shadow stopped what he was doing and looked over to Espio and Tonya while they were talking to Vector about Rouge.

"What?" The crocodile's eyes widened in disbelief and he immediately began to look at the paper.

"It happened last night", Espio explained. "The Villains took her."

He took his eyes away from the note and was lost in thought. "This is unbelievable…"

"Boss!" A kid bee had called as he came flying from downstairs in alarm.

"What's up, Charms?"

The bee hovered in front of the crocodile. "Someone broke in last night and took the battle suit Rouge was working on!"

"What? That tears it! We're going to find Rouge and bring her back!"

Espio approached the desk Shadow was sitting at and crossed his arms. "You did hear what's going on right?"

"…Yup", he plainly said while he was stapling some papers together.

"Well you are coming along to help us get her back right?"

"…Nope."

The chameleon's eyes widened in disbelief. He thought Shadow had cared about her and maybe secretly loved her. He didn't know what had made him suddenly so cold hearted towards her. "What? You gotta be kidding me! She's your partner, Shadow! Your teammate!"

"But I'm not her keeper! It's not my job to play hero and save her from every little thing!"

Espio couldn't help but to feel rage build up inside of him. He slammed his fist down onto the desk. "You self centered asshole! Rouge's life is on the line and you're getting defensive over a little drama between you two?"

"What goes on between Rouge and I has nothing to do with you. So stay out of it", he spoke in a deep and cold tone.

He could feel himself about to raise his fist and punch the hedgehog in the face for his carelessness. Vector walked behind the enraged chameleon and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Es. We need someone to watch over the Chaotix anyway."

The chameleon sighed and tried to calm down as he knew it was no use in convincing Shadow to tag along with them any longer. "…Fine." His yellow eyes fixed onto Shadow's once again. "But remember this, Shadow…if she dies, you'll never be able to live with yourself. Think about it."

Shadow watched as Espio left with the rest of the group to get prepared to go rescue Rouge.

Later, Vector, Charmy, Espio, and Tonya were walking through dirty water that was up to their ankles in a dark sewer.

As Tonya walked through the water, she held her nose because of the slight unpleasant odor that was set in the dark and gloomy tunnels they were walking through. "It would've been helpful if those stupid nerds told us that the railway was connected with the sewer system."

Charmy was setting on top of Vector's shoulder while he was walking. He formed a wide smile, "Oh the smell isn't so bad when you get use to it."

"That's what you think, kiddo."

Vector quickly stopped in his tracks and began to look around when he heard distant footsteps splashing around. "Hold on, guys", he spoke in a low tone. "I think I heard something."

Everyone froze and began to listen as well until more footsteps were heard.

"I heard it too", Tonya spoke as she looked around with uneasiness.

Charmy flew off of Vector's shoulder and hovered while he looked around as well. He then saw a shadowy figure appear on the walls in front of them. "Guys, we got company."

Espio looked behind them and saw another figure. He slowly took out shuriken stars and had them in each hand. "Heads up…"

Tonya took out her fan blades as she saw another figure approaching them from the side. "We're surrounded."

As the three figures got closer, everyone recognized Allan standing in front, Razi approaching them from the side, and Damon standing behind them. They all took note as the three were armed with some kind of big special guns.

"Well, well, well", Damon spoke as he raised the gun towards the group of detectives. "Look who decided to join the party."

Razi raised his gun at the group as well. "We've been waiting for you."

Allan aimed his gun at them also. "Now shit's getting good."

Charmy looked around and thought there was no way of passing either of them. "It's a trap!"

Espio sighed towards the bee, "Gee what made you think that?"

"Drop your weapons!" Razi demanded.

Everyone hesitated before they did so.

"Now! Or we'll vaporized ya!"

Everyone did as they were told and chucked their weapons into the water.

Vector clenched his teeth as he was trying to think of a way to pass them but unfortunately couldn't. "Where's Rouge?"

Allan began to laugh evilly, "The bat girl? She's safe and sound and if you don't believe us, we can gladly take you to her."

The crocodile gave the rabbit a cold glare. "…Like we have a choice?"

Damon made an evil smirk and began to walk towards the group while still pointing the gun at them. "You're damn skippy, old man. Hands in the air and start walking!"

**A/N:**

**Vector: What's going on? I demand an answer!**

**Krad: Looks like your heroic efforts are standing way too high for a detective agency...**

**Tonya: What have you done to Rouge?**

**Krad: I'm going to kill two birds with one stone!**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

**THE MASTER PLAN**

Later, the Villains had lead the Chaotix team into the control room of the abandoned railway. Damon still had his gun pointed at the group and carefully watched their every move. "Stay right there." He turned to Razi and gave him a small nod.

The orange beaver smirked as he placed his hand on a black lever that was on the wall near him and pulled it down.

Suddenly a large metal cage had trapped the group of detectives in the spot they were standing in.

"Do you seriously think a stupid cage can hold us?" Charmy spat and attempted to bust the bars open but was unexpectedly electrocuted by the bars.

Tonya gasped in horror and made sure Charmy stood away from the bars. "Charmy! Are you okay?"

As he rested his head on Tonya's lap, he looked up at her with a small smile. "I guess I know not to try that again."

A deep chuckle escaped from Allan. "I wouldn't do that again if I were you." He pointed at the bars on the cage that surrounded them. "If you touch those bars, you're gonna get fried."

Vector gritted his teeth in frustration. He couldn't believe that the Villains would be smart enough to come this far with such a plan like this and he couldn't figure out who was giving them powerful weapons. "I know you three are stupid as shit!" He pointed at the gray rabbit, "You're not the ring leader here! Who's been giving you shitheads all this stuff? And what do you have planned? I demand an answer!"

Damon arched an eyebrow towards the enraged crocodile. He couldn't believe he had the guts to talk to them in such a matter. He walked over to the cage and pointed the gun at Vector's head. "You better watch who you're talking to, old man! I'll blow your fucking head clear off! You think I won't?"

"That's enough!" A cold voice spoke from the distant side of the room.

Everyone spun around and saw a gray hedgehog slowly walking out of the shadows of the dimmed room. "He wants answers and I think we should give it to him."

Espio's eyes were fixed on the evil hedgehog's appearance. Just by looking at him, it sent a chill down his spine. "You…who are you?"

"My name is Krad. I hired these idiots to run a few errands for me."

"Oh? And why are we on your to do list exactly?" Tonya spoke while giving him a hateful glare.

"To make sure you stay out of my way. You all have a horrible reputation of saving the city way too many times and I wanted to put a stop to that."

Tonya arched an eyebrow towards him. "So this is a take over the world kind of ordeal? You dipshits are totally cliché!"

An evil chuckle escaped him as he form a sadistic smile.

Vector noticed that he didn't see Rouge anywhere within the room and began to worry if he had killed her. "Where's Rouge?"

"I'm so glad you asked."

Everyone saw him snap his fingers and heard footsteps getting closer and closer. They soon saw a female white bat wearing a skin tight black body suit, black high heeled knee high boots, black gloves that were up to her elbows, and a metal collar was placed around her neck. "Rouge!"

"Come to me, my dear guns girl." He held out his hand and watched her take it.

"Rouge?" Tonya called but didn't hear her respond back to her. "Wha-what's wrong with her?"

"She looks like she's been brainwashed!" Charmy shouted.

Espio studied the dull look in Rouge's eyes and she looked like she was in a strange daze. "That's exactly what happened."

Vector took note of the metal collar that was placed around her neck. "Bastard! What did you do to her?" He saw the hedgehog stoke his fingers through her soft white hair.

"I'm controlling her of course. With this collar I specially made with that laser over there." He pointed to the laser machine.

Everyone glanced at the laser and angrily focused their eyes back on him.

"If someone tries to take the collar off of her, they'll be painfully electrocuted. And with that being said, Rouge will be my slave…forever."

Charmy shook his head not wanting to believe what the evil hedgehog had just said. "You can't do that!"

"I do believe I can…" The hedgehog's menacing red eyes widened when he had realized that not everyone was held captive in the cage. "What? Someone's missing!" He turned to the three men in furry. "There are only four of them! Where's that hedgehog?"

The three men looked at each other nervously and hesitated to respond to their boss. Before any of them had the courage to speak, a small beeping noise had went off in the room.

Krad walked over to the wall full of monitors and spotted a black blur passing through one of the cameras in the sewers. He laughed deeply and formed a sinister smile when he knew that the black blur was none other than Shadow. "Yes…this is perfect!" He slowly turned to the bat girl who was awaiting orders. "Rouge, I order you to kill Shadow the Hedgehog!"

"No!" The group of detectives gasped and saw Rouge leaving the room immediately.

Charmy's mouth hung open as he couldn't believe how easily Rouge obeyed Krad. "Rouge would never do that!"

Krad once again laughed in a sinister tone and sat down in the black chair in front of the monitors. "She would! And knowing Shadow's violent and reckless behavior, he won't hesitate to defend himself from her."

Vector shook his head, "You're wrong! Shadow would never lay a finger on Rouge!"

Espio made an uneasy look on his face. He remembered how violent and aggressive Shadow would act towards Rouge at times and he seemed serious enough that he would actually beat her senseless. But he wanted to believe that Shadow wouldn't actually kill her off.

"Well", Krad spoke. "If that's the case…" He spun his chair around and began to watch the monitors. "…We'll watch them fight until they kill each other!"

**A/N:**

**Shadow: Rouge, what's happened to you?**

**Tonya: He'll realize what's going on and save her!**

**Krad: Kill them...**

**Shadow: If this is how you want things to be between us...then so be it!**


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

**HEARTLESS BATTLE**

Meanwhile, Shadow was running through the long tunnels of the sewers searching for any of his teammates. It seemed he wasn't having any luck so he had stopped in his tracks to think that maybe he had overlooked something. He looked around and found himself in a bigger area. He figured he was getting close to the operating room because of the pipes and some lights hanging against the walls. He continued to look around him and began to worry. 'Where is everybody?' He thought, 'I hope they're not…' Suddenly he heard something flying from behind him. He had took a step to the side and saw a huge axe fly by his face. He saw the blade sink into one of the pipes on the wall that was letting out steam. He quickly spun around and looked closely through the thick steam. His eyes widened when he saw a white bat woman wearing a black body suit approaching him. He had a sigh of relief that he had found Rouge and alive at that but something was off about her. Something different. "R-Rouge?"

The bat woman stood in front of him with an off look in her eyes. It was like she didn't know what was going on.

He figured she was still upset with him for what happened between them the last time they had saw each other. "…Rouge…" He began to slowly walk closer. "I know what I did to you was wrong and I'm sorry. I…I just want to make things right between us." Before he could take another step closer to her, she had drawn a small dagger from the inside of her boot and flung it at him.

He shut his eyes and felt the razor sharp blade lightly slice the side of his cheek. He could feel blood trickling down his face. He took the back of his hand and wiped some of the blood away. His eyes were fixed back onto the bat. "Do you hate me now? You hate me so much, you want to kill me? After all we've been through and this is how you want things to be?" He watched her jump into the air and strike down at him with a kick. Before she could strike him, he had dodged her attack.

She landed back onto the floor and gave him a blank stare.

Shadow couldn't believe how Rouge was acting. He was sure that the woman wasn't even her but it was her. It was her body and she knew how to use her battle suit backwards and forwards. More blood dripped from the small cut on his face. He touched his cheek once again and remembered how uncaring she was towards him when she threw that knife at him. 'Is this really her?' He thought to himself as he saw her take the giant axe out of the damaged pipe. 'If it is…it doesn't matter. She doesn't feel a thing for me anymore…'

She began to approach him while holding the axe tightly in her grip.

Shadow looked down at his blood stained gloves and eyed the golden bracelets that were around his wrists. 'Rouge, you'll never know how I truly felt about you now…'

Rouge started to charge towards the hedgehog with the axe.

He looked away from his bracelets as his hands were covered by a yellow aura. He raised his glowing hands towards her. "Chaos Spear!"

Meanwhile in the control room, Krad was sitting in his chair watching Rouge and Shadow fight in amusement. "My isn't this grand? It's just what I predicted. At this rate, I won't have to consider Shadow and Rouge a threat to me any longer." He turned back to the Chaotix who were still trapped in the electric cage. "Soon Tech City and then the world shall fall."

"Yeah well don't get your head so high in the clouds just yet", Charmy spoke.

"Shadow will realize what's going on and save her!" Tonya added.

Krad looked back at the screen once again and watched as Shadow blasted one of his Chaos attacks at the camera. Now he could no longer watch the fight between the two. "Just great. Now we can't see who will win." He shrugged and then stood from his chair, "Oh well. I guess there will be no winner after all. Which means I get to end your lives a little earlier than I intended to." He turned to Allan, Damon, and Razi and made a small nod meaning that they could kill the group of detectives. "Kill them."

The three of them formed evil expressions on their face and began to approach the detectives while preparing to fire their guns. They were suddenly startled when Espio threw a shuriken star at the lever to the cage and broke the handle off.

"What the hell?" Razi was so startled, he had dropped his gun to the floor.

Tonya took out both of her fan blades and easily sliced the bars apart in the cage.

Krad gave the three men a hateful look, "You idiots! I thought you stripped them of their weapons!"

Allan trembled a bit as he heard Krad's cold loud voice light up the room. "We-we did!"

As Charmy hovered beside the group of detectives, he took out two daggers. "Silly rabbit! Don't you know not to travel without spare weapons?"

A sweat drop appeared on the side of his head. "…This is bad."

Krad pointed at the group of detectives. "Don't just stand there! Shoot them! Shoot them now!"

Vector began cracking his knuckles, "Heads up, guys. It's about to get ugly up in here."

Meanwhile in the sewers, Rouge ran towards Shadow and swung the axe at him but missed once again. When she saw him appear behind her, she swung the axe again but this time, he had caught the axe by the handle and tried holding it back.

He was surprised how strong Rouge actually was. She was putting all of her energy into this fight and she was almost as strong as him with the help of her battle suit.

The bat used her knee, struck him in his abdomen and used the end of the axe to knock him in the side of his head. Once she saw him fall to his knees, she sent a powerful kick to his side and knocked him into another area of the sewer. She saw him laying on the floor struggling to get up.

Shadow saw her suddenly jump into the air and about to stomp on his body. He quickly rolled on his back, caught her foot, and threw her body into a wall.

She fell to the floor and held her side while trying to secretly grab a grenade from her utility belt. She waited for him to walk closer until she pulled the trigger off of the grenade and threw it in front of him.

Once he saw the grenade laying in front of him, he kicked it to a distant corner of the room and watched it blow up a wall revealing another area.

Rouge had tackled him to the floor and pulled out a combat knife. She tried to stab the point of the knife into his neck but he was grabbing her wrist and pushing it away from him. She felt him kick her in her stomach making her weaken her grip on the knife.

He took this to his advantage and punched her in the face, knocking her off of him. When he had gotten off of the floor, he saw her take out a handgun and pulled the trigger without any hesitation. He let out a cry of pain as the bullet shot into his shoulder.

When she saw him hold his shoulder in pain, she quickly walked up to him, grabbed his wrists, and kicked him into another part of the sewer. While he was laying there on the floor, she spotted the combat knife on the floor and picked it up. She walked over to his body, picked him up by his shirt and shoved his back against the wall.

He felt more sudden pain when he felt the sharp end of the knife being stabbed into his stomach. He let out painful groan and felt her take the knife out of his stomach. His heavy eyes were directed down at the floor until he saw little drops of water splash on the floor.

"…Sha…dow…" She spoke in a soft and weak voice.

He weakly looked up at the bat and saw tears flowing down her cheek. He was lost. He just knew that she had every intent to kill him but now she was crying. He looked into her eyes and it seemed that she had so much feeling in them than she had before.

"…Run…a…way…"

He didn't understand her. At first she wanted him to fight her and now she was telling him to get away from her. "Run…away?"

Her words were softening up but her grip on him did not. She attempted to speak to him again. "De-destroy…"

'Destroy?' He thought, 'Destroy what? Me?'

More tears flowed down her cheeks, "Th-the…col…lar…"

'Collar?' His eyes had looked down at the metal collar that was around her neck. He looked into her watery eyes again to try to figure out the rest of her message.

"…De…Des…troy…"

His eyes widened in horror as he finally understood her message to him. He was now aware that Rouge was being controlled by the collar that was around her neck. 'The collar!' He thought, 'That thing's been controlling her this whole time!' He winced as she started to grip around his neck. 'She wants me to destroy the collar!'

More tears fell from her face as she gripped around him harder and harder. "…Sha…dow…"

He slapped her out of his grip and tried to keep a distance from her now that he knew what was happening.

Rouge tossed the bloody knife to the side of the room and picked up the axe back off of the floor.

Shadow stood there holding his bloody shoulder and began to hesitate while he was trying to think of a strategy to get the collar off of her neck. "Don't worry, Rouge", he panted heavily. "…I'll save you."

**A/N:**

**Espio: You have no chance against us!**

**Krad: I'm more special than you think!**

**Shadow: Damn! I can't get the collar off!**

**Rouge:...Sha...dow...**

**Shadow: Rouge, do you trust me?**


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

**COMPASSIONATE REALIZATION**

Back in the control room, a panicked Razi quickly picked the gun up from the floor from where he had dropped it. He pointed it at the group of detectives who were now free from the cage and ready to settle the score with them. "Hold it right there", he spoke in a nervous tone. "You move and I'll shoot!"

Espio saw how nervous Razi had gotten and found the way how he was trying to tell them what to do pathetic. He sighed in annoyance, "Bitch please." He chucked his shuriken at the gun the beaver was holding and watched it slide across the floor.

Damon shook his head at Razi's poor attempt to handle the Chaotix. "Razi, you good for nothing idiot!" He aimed the gun at the chameleon and fired it.

A purple colored laser had shot from the barrel of the strange gun and made its way towards Espio. Him and the rest of the Chaotix had got out of the way and made the laser hit the wall instead.

Allan took his gun and fired it at Tonya.

The cat took one of her fan blades and used them as a shield to block the laser making it bounce off and almost hit him instead.

"Whoa!" Allan dropped to the floor as he avoided the laser attack.

As Razi tried to get to the gun he had dropped on the floor, he saw Vector's foot on it. He looked up at the crocodile nervously. "So um, I take it your pretty upset?"

The crocodile gave him an irritated look before taking his fist and punching him right in his nose which knocked him beside Krad.

Tonya lifted her leg and kicked Allan so hard in his stomach, he fell on top of Razi.

Damon narrowed his eyes towards the kid bee who was hovering in front of him. "You don't scare me, kid."

"Oh yeah? What about me?" A voice spoke from behind him.

When he spun around, the purple chameleon punched him in the face and he was pushed down on top of Allan and Razi.

Charmy raised his fist in the air in victory, "Yeah! Take that, Villains!"

Krad looked down at the group and made a disgusted look. "You three are fucking pathetic! Get up!"

As soon as they got the energy to get up off of the floor, they stared at Krad, then the Chaotix, and then at one another.

"Oh hell no", Damon spoke while he chucked his gun onto the floor. "Fuck this shit."

Krad couldn't believe what he was hearing from him. "…What did you say?"

Damon hesitated for a second because of what Krad might do to him but then he thought either way if he was to fight the Chaotix or disobey Krad, it still seemed like a death wish. "I said fuck this shit."

Allan shook his head and dropped his weapon to the floor as well. "I'm out."

Razi threw his gun on the floor next to theirs. "Me too."

"…What? How dare you!" Krad shouted in anger.

Damon shrugged his shoulders at the hedgehog. "We're a bunch of college dropouts who drinks beer, talk about girls, and hangs around this dude's grandmother's basement." He pointed to Razi as he was referring to his grandmother's basement. "What do you expect?"

Krad arched an eyebrow to the group in disbelief as they were walking out of the door.

"Well Krad, it's been real man!" Allan said.

"Good luck with the taking over the world thing!" Razi added.

When they left, Krad shook his head and wanted to actually kick himself. "I should've known not to hire those idiots", he murmured.

Vector formed a smirk towards the hedgehog. "Well looks like your men left you hanging. Now you gotta deal with us. Krad, you're going away for a long time." He suddenly heard the hedgehog laughing evilly and that laugh wasn't an average laugh. It was a very sinister one. "What's so funny?"

"Yeah!" Charmy spoke, "You lost!"

He placed his hand over his right eye as he continued to chuckle and look at the group of confused detectives. "Fools! You have no idea what I'm capable of!"

"Oh yeah? What makes you so special?" Espio asked when he had his arms crossed.

Everyone gasped and stared in horror when the hedgehog removed his hand from his eye and saw it glowing.

"I am more special than you think!"

Back in the sewers, Shadow was trying to avoid Rouge as much as possible now that he had knew that the collar around her neck was making her body move on its own. He couldn't avoid her for long, he was already moving slow because of the injuries she had made on him.

She ran up to him and swung the axe close to his neck trying to chop his head clear off.

Fortunately he was quick and ducked making her miss and swing the blade of the axe into the concrete wall. While she was trying to get the axe out of the wall, he took the end of his handgun and hit it in the back of her head. He saw her fall to the floor holding the back of her head. He felt absolutely terrible for the things he had done to her and to make it worse, he couldn't believe he would thought that Rouge had actually wanted to kill him. After all those years of working beside her, he should've known that Rouge was not that type of person. He shook out of his thoughts and tried to reach for the collar around her neck. His eyes widened when she had gripped her hand around his wrist and threw his body off of her.

She got up from the floor as she took out a machine gun and attempted to shoot at him while she was running towards him.

Shadow grabbed her wrist and tried to take the gun out of her hand but she didn't ease her grip. He raised her wrist in the air making her fire the gun towards the ceiling. He then took his elbow and hit her in her stomach making her drop the gun and knocking her into the wall. When Rouge's back was against the cold and wet wall, Shadow took this chance to attempt to take the collar off of her neck. He grabbed the collar and he instantly felt a painful shock all over his and Rouge's body. He could no longer bear the pain and had no choice but to release the collar from his grip. When he let go of it, he still kept his distance away from Rouge. He held his sides in pain from the shock and could only imagine what Rouge had felt when he grabbed the collar.

She kneeled onto the floor with her head down while heavily panting in exhaustion.

'Damn!' He thought, 'That thing has some kind of electric device infused into the collar. How can I take it off of her? I can't use any of my Chaos powers or weapons. I might miss and kill her. What do I do?'

When she had the strength to stand up and attempt to fight him again, she stared at the machine gun that was laying in the middle of the floor from where she dropped it.

He saw her staring at the gun and figured she was going to try to grab it. He had quickly dove for the gun and pointed it at the bat woman. "Hold it, bat girl!"

Rouge remained silent and had stood completely still while he pointed the gun at her.

"Put your hands in the air! Now!"

She did as she was told and watched him walk around her to watch any sudden movements she would make.

As he held the gun at her, he still tried to think of a way to get the collar off of her. 'I don't want to kill her! I won't kill her! It's…It's not her fault! But what can I do to help her?'

While Rouge stood there with her hands in the air, she slowly clenched her left fist.

Shadow saw her strange actions and noticed her slowly backing away from him. "Wha? What are you?" He paused when he heard a sudden beeping noise coming from the machine gun he was holding. His eyes widened as he stared at the gun in panic. 'She planted a bomb inside the gun and wired the activation switch in her battle suit!' He then saw Rouge break for the other area. He thought he should quickly do the same. He dropped the gun to the floor and ran into the same room she had ran into.

It was seconds until the bomb had went off and blew up the entire room also having the rubble blocking anyway of going back.

He couldn't rest long as Rouge came behind him with a combat knife. He dodged her attack by grabbing her wrist, and kicking her in her back.

She fell to the floor while dropping the knife. Before she could even get up, Shadow placed his body on top of hers and pinned her wrists down to the floor. She struggled to get him off of her but it was no use.

He leaned closer to Rouge and saw that her eyes were still swollen with tears. "Rouge, if you can hear me. I promise you I will get that collar off of you." He noticed after saying that, she had somewhat calmed down.

Her breathing was heavy, her chest was heaving in exhaustion, and tears were falling from her face as she stared into his sympathetic red eyes. "…Sha…dow…"

He looked away from her for a moment then looked back into her aqua eyes. "Rouge, do you trust me?" He didn't hear her say anything but he had hoped that she had understood him. He took a deep breath and slowly released his hands from her wrists. "No matter what happens, I promise you your freedom."

She tried to contain her body from moving so she wouldn't interfere with whatever Shadow had planned. She saw him lean closer to her with him whispering softly in her ear.

"…Take a deep breath and close your eyes…"

**A/N: **

**Krad: Prepare to witness my true power!**

**Tonya: This isn't possible!**

**Vector: Just what are you?**

**Shadow: This is all my fault...**


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 14**

**THE LOVE OF FREEDOM**

In the control room, the Chaotix team were studying Krad's horrific facial expression. They all could just tell that who or whatever he was, he wasn't going to be like any other enemy they had faced before.

Charmy arched an eyebrow while he stared at the gray hedgehog who still had an evil look on his face. "Something's really strange about that guy."

"You don't say?" Espio said sarcastically while he couldn't take his eyes off of him.

"Silence!" Krad demanded. "Prepare to witness my true power!"

Espio stepped forward showing the hedgehog he wasn't afraid of him. "What power?"

"How about I show you?" He raised his hand towards the chameleon and saw him levitate in the air.

Charmy's jaw dropped when he saw it. "Holy crap!"

Tonya placed her hand over her lips at the sight. 'How is he doing that?'

The hedgehog then swayed his hand in a slapping motion and flung Espio's body into the wall knocking him unconscious.

"Espio!" Tonya shouted in worry.

Vector clenched his fists in fury, "You!" He ran up to the hedgehog ready to hit him with a powerful punch.

The gray hedgehog licked his lips and clenched his hand into a fist in his direction.

Tonya and Charmy gasped in horror when they saw Vector stop in his tracks and fell to his knees while holding his chest.

"Vector!" Charmy shouted in worry.

Tonya had wondered what was going on and how Krad had the power to all of this. "What are you doing to him?"

"I'm just showing him a little taste of my power and just merely crushing his heart."

'No!' She thought, 'How is this possible?'

"I literally have his heart in my hands", he spoke in a devious tone.

'Who is this man? He…he can't be a mere Mobian…' Tears swelled in her eyes as she feared for Vector. "Leave him alone!"

He shrugged, "As you wish." He unclenched his fist and saw Vector fall to the floor groaning in pain.

"Vector!"

Tonya and Charmy ran over to him to make sure he was going to be okay. They once again heard Krad laughing deeply.

"You fools! You actually thought you could take me on? When I can kill you in a blink of an eye? You have yet to witness my real power!"

Tonya found it hard to admit even to herself but she was afraid and wished that everything that was happening was all just one huge nightmare.

Meanwhile, Rouge's body began to tremble a bit as she was trying to control herself from fighting Shadow again. She looked up at the hedgehog who had his body on top of hers and saw his hands reach for the collar around her neck. She closed her eyes tightly awaiting the searing pain the collar would bring to both of them if the collar was ever attempted to being taken off.

Shadow tightly shut his eyes, quickly gripped his hands around the collar and started to pull it apart.

The both of them began to let out agonizing cries as the electricity from the collar started to shock their bodies.

Rouge felt her body burning from the inside but she tried not to move as she knew deep down that Shadow had to be getting close to getting the collar off.

As he pulled harder and harder, he could feel the collar around her neck wearing and the electric shocks weaken.

She felt the collar get more and more loose around her neck.

At last, Shadow used all of the strength he had left and felt the collar break in half within his grip. He opened his eyes and found the collar broken in half in the palm of his hands. He looked at Rouge and saw that she didn't open her eyes and her head was laying to the side. He threw the broken collar to the side, got off of her, and held her body close to him. "Rouge?" He shook her body lightly, "Rouge!" He shook her body again, "Wake up! Open your eyes!"

She laid in his arms with her eyes still closed and her body not moving.

He started to worry and thought maybe she didn't make it. Maybe the shocks were too much for her. Or maybe the injuries from their fight were too serious. Regardless of the possibilities if she had died, he would've blamed himself. He began to remember what Espio had told him earlier.

'_If she dies, you'll never be able to live with yourself.'_

While remembering that, it just made him want to think that he really had lost her. He laid her body back onto the floor and kneeled down in front of her. He couldn't take his eyes off of her beautiful face. She seemed so peaceful. "Rouge, this is all my fault. If I wasn't being so selfish, you wouldn't be upset with me. You wouldn't have gotten captured. You wouldn't have been in this situation. I wish you could hear me say that…I'm sorry. I should've treated you better. I never knew how good you were to me until the very end. I…I need you in my life." He leaned his forehead onto hers and began to softly sob. "Please Rouge, come back to me…"

When his tears touched her face, her eyes had slowly started to open. She saw him pressing his forehead against hers and saw him softly crying. Seeing him do such a thing warmed her heart. She made a small smile and placed her warm hands on his cheeks.

He had slowly opened his eyes and saw that Rouge's eyes were open as well and were laid upon his. "…Rouge? You…you're alive?"

"Of course I am, silly", she spoke in a weak tone. "It'll take a little more than a few electric shocks to get rid of me. I am the guns girl after all."

He placed his hand on top of hers when she set it on his cheek. He made a warm smile towards her, "And a damn good one."

"Shadow", she began. "I…I'm sorry…for what I said about you and…" Her words trailed off as she didn't want to upset him over again.

He shook his head slightly, "No…No don't apologize. I'm the one who should be sorry. I was the one who kept bringing up the past. And perhaps I need to learn to let things that happened in the past stay in the past."

"But Faye was very dear to you."

"And you're not?"

She remained quiet and couldn't believe what he was actually saying.

"Rouge, you're my partner…my teammate…my ally…my friend…"

After hearing his words, she felt like she wanted to start tearing up. She had been waiting so long for Shadow to respect her and treat her like a friend and not just a co worker. "…Do you really mean that, Shadow?"

He made a small nod, "Of course." He took her hand from his cheek and softly kissed it. "I want you to be happy and to be honest, I can't see us having a relationship anytime soon."

She wanted to look away from him after when he had said that. She really liked him and wanted to give things a go but she could see why he didn't want to date in general. It was just too much for him to handle in his already busy schedule. He just simply didn't have time for it. She tried to smile to show him that she understood why he had wanted them to stay friends. "I understand, Shad."

He made a small smile and stood from the floor. He held his hand to her to offer to help her up.

She took his hand and slowly got off of the floor. She was still a little weak from the fight she had with Shadow. She had suddenly lost her balance and accidentally fell on top of Shadow knocking them back down to the floor. As she laid on top of his body, she blushed when she looked into his eyes. Her blush deepened when she felt him stroke his fingers through her hair. "…Shadow?"

He was so lost in her eyes, it took him a few seconds to respond back to her. "…Yeah?"

"Do you think we can make this just friends thing official after we share one last kiss?"

He formed a warm smile and placed his hands on her cheeks. "Of course…partner."

She leaned in closer to him until her lips had met his for one final passionate kiss.

When he took his lips from hers, he had the urge to kiss her again but a horrific scream had echoed in the tunnels.

Shadow and Rouge quickly stood up from the floor and looked around.

"What was that?" Rouge asked as he turned to the hedgehog.

"That scream…it sounded like Tonya."

"Oh no…she might be hurt." Rouge's face was full of worry. By the way Tonya had screamed, it sounded like she was in life threatening danger.

Shadow pointed down a distant tunnel, "I think it came from that way." He took Rouge's hand and made her follow him, "Let's go!"

**A/N:**

**Rouge: You'll pay for what you've done to me!**

**Krad: I've been waiting a long time for this moment...**

**Rouge: Just what the hell are you?**

**Krad: You can't win!**

**Shadow: I'll make sure you never lay a hand on my friends again!**


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 15**

**UNKNOWN ANSWERS**

"Boss!" Charmy shouted in worry while he kneeled down on the floor beside him. "Are you okay?"

While the crocodile was down on his knees, he continued to hold his chest and wince in pain.

Tonya looked at the unconscious purple chameleon then turned to Charmy who was worried for Vector's safety. She stood in front of Vector and confronted the gray hedgehog who was approaching them. She took out both of her fans and stood in a fighting stance. "Don't take another step!"

Despite her words, he kept walking towards the group in confidence knowing he could easily beat her. "You have a lot of guts, girl."

She gritted her teeth and charged towards him. She tried to cut him with her fans but he had gripped his hands around her wrists. He gripped harder on her, making her yell in pain and drop her weapons.

"…Too bad I gotta rip them out of you."

She shut her eyes tightly not wanting to feel the horrible pain Krad would bring her. Suddenly, she had heard the door to the room being busted open. She opened her eyes and saw a white female bat and black male hedgehog spring into the room.

Krad turned to the two detectives in disbelief. "You!"

Shadow gritted his teeth in fury as he saw Tonya struggling in his grip. "Take your hands off of her!"

He formed a sly smile towards the angry hedgehog. "As you wish." He threw Tonya's body out of his grip and fixed his eyes on the two.

Tonya fell to the floor beside Charmy and Vector.

Shadow saw Espio unconscious, Vector holding his chest, Charmy in tears, and Tonya beaten up. "Tonya! " He ran to Tonya's aid and helped her off of the floor.

She rested her head onto his chest as he came to aid her. "Shadow, thank God!"

Before Krad could approach them, he felt a bullet being fired into his back. He winced slightly and turned to the white bat who was holding a handgun in her hands.

The bat gave the gray hedgehog a hateful look. "Krad! You'll pay for what you've done to me!"

Krad arched an eyebrow when he noticed that the metal collar was no longer around Rouge's neck. He figured that Shadow had managed some way to get the collar off of her without it killing her and Shadow. "So you've managed to get the collar off after all…"

"You have no power over me, Krad!" She took out a shotgun and pointed it at him. "You turned me against my friends! I'll make you suffer!"

"I would like to see you try, guns girl."

She pulled the trigger to the shotgun and fired a powerful shot at him.

The shot was so powerful, it knocked him back a bit. He thought the shotgun she wielded was no ordinary shotgun. It was a lot more stronger. While he was caught off guard, he saw her suddenly send a flying kick to his side. He was flung back into the laser machine and collapsed over top of it, destroying the machine.

Rouge stared at his unconscious body laying over top of the machine that was in pieces. "Don't ever fuck with me, asshole", she muttered in a cold tone. She heard Espio groaning lowly as he was beginning to gain consciousness again. "Espio!" She ran over to him and helped him off of the floor. "Are you okay?"

The chameleon rubbed the back of his throbbing head. "Yeah that fucker knocked me on my ass." He shook his head a bit to wake himself up a bit more. "What did I miss?"

"It's over, Es. That fucker is done", Vector spoke in a weak tone.

Espio and Rouge turned to Vector, Charmy, Tonya, and Shadow who were approaching them.

"Yeah!" Charmy spoke while he hovered around Rouge. "Rouge, did away with him!"

Espio looked over at Krad's unconscious body and then turned to Rouge with a proud smile, "Good job, bat girl." He studied the scratches and wounds on her body and then turned to Shadow who was bleeding in several places as well. He whistled as he studied the two's beaten up appearance. "Damn! You two sure did a number on each other!"

The hedgehog and bat glanced up and down each other and turned away blushing from the fact the two had done so much damage to each other.

Shadow crossed his arms, "Well I had no choice but to take it easy on her. I could never use my full power against her."

Rouge placed her hands on her hips and arched her brow. "Um excuse me? I may was under Krad's control but I was still aware of what was going on! I was kicking your ass and you know it!" She crossed her arms and made a sly smile. "Wasn't using your full power my ass!"

Charmy, Vector, Espio, and Tonya couldn't help but to smile towards the two arguing. Everyone was just glad that things were going back to normal.

Suddenly, everyone heard a loud groaning coming from Krad's unconscious body. They turned and saw the gray hedgehog standing off of the floor quickly with rage in his eyes.

"You fools! You thought you could get rid of me so easily?"

Shadow stood in front of the group of detectives as he was trying to protect them. "You stay away from my friends!"

Krad paused for a moment as he stared at Shadow's serious appearance. An evil smile formed on his lips. "So…we finally meet at last Shadow The Hedgehog."

The hedgehog's eyes widened as he didn't understand his words. "At last huh? You've been waiting to get your ass kicked by me? Is that it?"

He shook his head, "Not at all. It's just an honor…to meet the very man who lost so many loved ones because of your cowardly acts. You lost not only lost your father but your beloved princess as well."

With him speaking those words that pierced his heart, in rage Shadow charged towards him with both of his fists clenched.

Krad held his fists in his grip and continued to mock him. "You call yourself the ultimate being? Don't make me laugh! You're weak! You watch! You'll fail and lose everyone you ever cared about!"

Shadow was now seeing red. His body began to shake in rage.

Krad suddenly saw Shadow slip his fist out of his grip and sent a powerful punch to the face. He punched him so hard, he let Shadow out of his grip and stepped back while holding the side of his face.

Before Shadow could strike at him again, his body froze in shock as he saw Krad turn to him. Once he saw Krad's face, he saw the side of his face cracking like a shell. Black fur was showing while his face was slowly falling apart. His eyes widened at the sight. He lowered his fists. "…What are you?" He then saw a black aura surrounding his body and saw him slowly disappearing.

He continued to hold the side of his face and stare at the puzzled hedgehog with his glowing red eyes. The evil look on his face was still present. "…Do you feel Darkness?"

The black and red hedgehog's body froze as he tried to figure out what he had meant before he completely faded into the black aura.

Once he disappeared, the group surrounded Shadow making sure he was okay.

Vector laid a hand on the hedgehog's shoulder. "You okay, Shad?"

The hedgehog snapped out of his thoughts and turned to the group. "Uh yeah. I'm fine."

Espio placed a finger on his chin. "What was he talking about?"

The hedgehog shook his head as he had no idea. "I don't know. The guy's crazy."

Tonya shook her head slowly. "That thing…was no guy. The power he possessed…he was clearly no mere Mobian."

"It doesn't matter", Vector spoke. "What does matter is that he's gone and everyone's safe and sound."

Everyone formed a small smile and made a nod.

The crocodile smiled towards the group. "Let's go home, guys."

**A/N: The next chapter will be the last so keep an eye out for it!**

**Tonya: Glad things are back to normal!**

**Vector: The next time we run into Krad, we'll be ready!**

**Rouge: You're such a great friend, Shadow.**

**Shadow: You too...**


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

**THE OUTCOME**

The next couple of weeks, things were back to normal at the detective agency it seemed. There wasn't any signs of The Villains and there was no news of Krad either. Everything was peaceful again. Vector, Charmy, Espio, and Tonya were in the main lobby discussing what had happened the last couple of weeks early that morning.

Tonya was finished typing on her computer and let out a relieved sigh. "Nope. Still no sign of those nerd wingers and that creepy Krad guy."

Charmy was slowly spinning himself around in a desk chair next to Tonya's desk. "I still can't help but to wonder who was that guy and what did he really want."

Vector was leaning against Tonya's desk with his arms crossed and shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows? I'm just glad that freak of nature is outta our face."

Espio was sitting on Tonya's desk with a cup of coffee in his hands. "Don't jinx it, Vec. The last thing we need is that psychopath back on our backs."

"He may be off our backs now but I have a terrible feeling that isn't the last time we see him", Tonya spoke in worry.

"Well the next time we see him, we'll be ready to kick his ass again."

Everyone made a nod agreeing with him.

"Oh! You know what I just thought! Krad is backwards for Dark!…What if?" Charmy was then assuming that Krad's identify was fake.

Espio made an annoyed look towards the bee, "Pfft. That's so cliché."

Everyone was brought out of thought when they saw a white bat girl coming into the building wearing her usual uniform.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late. My stupid alarm clock didn't go off."

Vector arched an eyebrow not believing her. "Yeah, yeah, bat girl. Excuses, excuses."

Espio knew how bad her injuries were when her and Shadow were fighting. He decided to ask how she was. "Are you healing up okay?"

She paused for a moment until she thought back to when he was referring to the fight she had with Shadow. "Oh! Yeah Es, I'm doing just fine. I can finally move my body normally again."

He formed a warm smile, "Good! I thought that hedgehog seriously messed you up."

"Heh, are you kidding me? He barely touched me!"

Espio shook his head as he knew Rouge had gotten cocky from her laying a few scratches on the black hedgehog. "Whatever you say, bat girl."

"Speaking of which, where is that cranky hedgehog anyway?"

Vector pointed down the hall. "He's in his office doing paperwork as usual."

"Of course", she spoke sarcastically. "How could I have not even known he would be cooped up in his office?" She began to make her way to the closed door of his office. She turned the doorknob and opened the door. Once she stepped inside of the small office, she saw the black hedgehog sitting behind a huge desk with his head buried in papers that was scattered all over the desk. She formed a small smile and shut the door quietly behind her.

The hedgehog's ears perked up from the sound of the door closing. He looked away from a paper he was holding and faced the white bat who was already sitting down in the chair setting in front of his desk. "About time you showed up."

"My bad, Captain Shad. My alarm clock didn't go off."

He slowly shook his head and looked back down at the paperwork on his desk. "That was your excuse for yesterday too you know?"

Rouge crossed her arms and gave him a teasing look. "Don't write me up, Shad."

"I didn't say anything about writing you up. Besides I'm sure Vector saw you sneak in here."

A sweat drop formed on the side of her head. She completely forgot that Vector would write her up anyway. She placed her hands on her knees and looked downward not wanting to look at Shadow. "Shad?"

He never rose his head up from his desk, "Hm?"

"I don't think I ever thanked you for coming to save me and…not killing me…"

The hedgehog paused for a moment, looked away from the papers, and focused on the bat.

"You and I both know that you could've easily killed me back there…but…you didn't…"

He sighed heavily and put the papers down onto his desk. "Rouge…", he spoke softly. "…I would take my own self out before I even thought of killing you."

She slowly rose her head towards him. "That's why you would've let me killed you. In the end, you hesitated."

He looked away from her, "…I made Faye a promise that I would protect her with my life…and in the end I failed her. I…I couldn't let you down too. Even if I had to, I could never bring myself to kill you."

"…Thank you, Shadow."

He slowly faced her again and made a small nod.

As the two stared at each other across the desk, the room went silent for moments until Rouge spoke up again.

"…I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

She made a warm smile as she hesitated to speak up. "…Well, Knuckles asked me out and I said yes…"

Shadow's eyes wandered away from her and couldn't help but to look downward.

Rouge noticed his silence and began to worry. "…Are you…mad?"

He shook his head slightly and looked back at her with a small smile. "Of course not. I want you to be happy and if he makes you happy…then I'm happy."

She stood from the chair and tightly hugged the hedgehog while he was still sitting in his desk chair. "You're such a great friend, Shadow. I don't know what I'd do without you."

As he hugged her, he couldn't help but to feel a little upset that Rouge had started dating the man who had always despised him. However, he still pretended that he was happy for her. "…You too, Rouge." He pulled her body away from his and handed her a folder full of papers. "Now stop slacking and help me catch up with this paperwork."

She took the folder and sighed as she headed for the door. "I knew that wasn't going to last long."

He formed a small smile and pointed towards the door.

She shook her head and walked out of the door.

Once she left, Shadow rested his head on his hands and sighed heavily. 'It's hard', he thought. 'But perhaps one day I'll fall out of love with you and it won't hurt so much…'

**AN: Finally finished the fic! Ugh! It's been so long but it's done! And I again apologize to the fans of this fic who was waiting so long for this to end. I'm working on the sequel as we speak and I'm gonna try to motivate myself as much as I can to finish that one without me taking a whole year to update it. Anyway thank you all for your reviews and support!**

**Shadow: Wait a minute, what just happened here?**

**Espio: Rouge ended up with Knuckles in the end?...What the hell?**

**Shadow: But...But I'm always supposed to get the girl in the end!**

**Jasmine: Oh hush you! The fic isn't completely over you know!**

**Espio: Well you need to hurry and write that sequel! I wanna find out what really happens!**

**Jasmine: You will wait!**

**Shadow and Espio: Aw...**

**Jasmine: Anyway, the sequel Possession will be posted soon! So stay tuned! **


End file.
